
I'KKSEXTED liY 






cr*-<j 



SOME 



Old Historic Landmarks 

OF 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, 

DESCRIBED IN 

A HANDrBOOK FOR THE TOURIST 

OVER THE 

Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon 
Electric Railway, 

BY 



W. H. SNOWDEN, A. M. , 

OF ANDALUSIA, VA. 

MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF 

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NEW JERSEY, 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, &C. 



Fifth Edition of Five Thousand, 
copiously illustrated, 



ALEXANDRIA, VAt 

PRINTED BY G. H. RAMEY & SON. 
1904. 






BY 






To THE Reader. 



This Hand Book makes no pretentions to literary excellence, nor fine 
typographical display. The only aim of the author in its preparation has 
been historical accuracy and the acceptable presentation of much and varied 
information in a little compass and at a small cost. It is merely an epitome 
of a Library Edition of much greater scope, with many more subjects and 
illustrations, to be published hereafter. 

While the Book is offered nominally as a guide to locate important 
places for the tourist, and to briefly narrate whatever of historic interest per- 
tains to each of them, it is also designed for more than a mere itinerary to be 
hastily read and then carelessly thrown aside as being of no further value. - 

Some theie maybe of its^ readers it is hoped, who will find its contents of 
sufficient interest to take home for household reading and preservation. 

We are no' t in an age when there is a far greater desire among all classes 
ur people than ever before for inquiry into whatever relates to or throws 
new light upon the work, the struggles, the progress, manners and usages of 
the generations of the earlier days. 

Some repetitions of facts and occurences will be found in reading the 
different chapters on account of their having been written at different times, for 
which the reader's indulgence is asked. The thanks of the author is due to 
such of his friends as have contributed to the work, and especialty to Miss 
Eugenie DeLand of Washington City for her numerous pictorial designs. 
In the book will be found not only a summary of the life, services, and char- 
acter of General Washington, and a description of his home, his farms, and 
his farming operations, and the changes which have been incident to his land 
estate since his passing away, but also descriptions of numerous other outlying 
historic landmarks on both shores of the Potomac. The writer trusts that the 
book, hastily prepared in brief intervals of pressing duties, may prove an ac- 
ceptable companion to all strangers wayfaring among the many interesting 
historic points which will be open to them by this convenient and delight- 
ful route of travel to the Home and Tomb of the venerated Washington. 

W. H. S. 
Andalusia, Va. 



STSTIONS aND DISTANCES. 

Miles. Miles. Miles. 

Washington o.o Lloyd 5.7 Arcturus 12.8 

Alexander Island . . 2.1 Braddock 6.0 Herbert Springs . . 12.9 

Arlington Junction . 2.7 Spring Park 6.7 Snowden 13. i 

Addison 3.2 Alexandria .... 7.7 Grassymead . . . .13.1 

Four Mile Run . . .4.1 New Alexandria . . . 9.6 Hunter 14.2 

St. Elmo 4.8 Dyke ....... 11. 3 Riverside 14.7 

St. Asaph 5.1 Bellmont 12. i Mount Vernon , . , 15.8 

Del Ray 5.6 Wellington .... 12.5 

The tourist who boards the train of the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon 
Electric Railway at the corner of Thirteen and a half street and Pennsylvania Avenue 
in the National Capital, for a ride to the Home and Tomb of George Washington will 
pass through a region of country whose every locality bears the vivid impress of most 
interesting as well as important historical associations, reaching back through nearly 
three hundred years of the beginnings and progress of our country in the march of 
civilization and advancement. 

On every stream and thoroughfare, in every valley and on every hill crest there is 
somememen to or land mark, in whatever direction the eye may range, to remind of the 
pioneers who transformed the wastes of the wilderness, marked the bounds of the 
homesteads, laid the hearth stones, established the neighborhoods and set up the altars 
of the Virginia Commonwealth. Aside from the great historic interest which pertains 
to every portion of the way of this desirable route to Mount Vernon, there is also for 
the tourist a pleasing diversity of natural scenery, of which the broad skirting river* 
forms a very attractive part. 

As the train passes down 14th street towards the Potcmac, the beautifully diveisi- 
fied grounds of the Agricultural Department, those of th.e Smithsonian Institute and 
of the National Museum and the Botanical Gardens, comprising a large area reaching 
to the foot of the Capitol may be seen on the left. Ihe extensive and varied collec- 
tions in the spacious buildings of these grounds from all lands and climes amply illustrat- 
ing the rnineral, animal and vegetable Kingdoms of nature will well repay a visit. On 
the right are the monumental grounds from which rises the great shaft erected to the 
memory of General George Washington. This structure rises to the height of a little 
over 555 feet above ground level and 600 feet above mean tide water, and is the highest 
work of masonry in the world. 

It is built of granite and marble and contained in its wall is a block of native copper 
weighing 2100 pounds from Lake Michigan. Its foundations are of blue stone laid 16 
feet in depth. The topmost stone weighs over 3000 pounds. The whole structure is 
surmounted by a point of aluminium 9^^ inches high and ^j4 inches square at its base 
weighing 100 ounces, the cost of which was ^225. Whiter than silver and not liable to 
corrosion this point as the sunlight strikes it, glistens like a huge diamond or an intense 
electric light. The base of the shaft is 55 feet square, with walls 15 feet thick. The 
whole structure weighs more than Socco tons. Just under the pyramidon or pinnace 
stone is a platform with an area of 1167 feet from which, through eight windows, the 
visitor has magnificent prospects of the surrounding countiy. Here, the walls are 18 
inches thick. The cornerstone was laid July 4th, 1848, ard the whole was finished in 
1885 at a cost of $1,500,000. On an average 500 visitors ascend the monument daily 
at a yearly cost to the government of ^20,000. 



6 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 




WASHINGTON .M<J.\L MKNT. 



The top of the great structure is reached by an 
elevator, and also a stairway of 50 flights of steps, 
each flight consisting of eighteen steps — 900 in all. 
A\'ithin the walls of this structure there is room 
enough to contain a thousand persons. Like the 
great dome of the Capitol, this massive shaft from its 
commanding height is a conspicuous land mark for 
many miles distant in all the approaches to Washing- 
ton. Being so high and isolated from other sur- 
rounding objects it has been struck numbers of times 
by lightning but without material injury. Strange 
to say, but it is nevertheless a fact established by nice 
and careful experiments, that this massive monument 
so deeply and broadly founded, has a daily leaning 
movement toward the sun, amounting at times to 
four or five inches. 

In close proximity to the monument is the National 
Bureau of Printing and Engraving, where are printed 
all the paper currency and postage stamps of the 
government. 

Emerging from the National Capital the train 
crosses the Potomac River by the Long Bridge into 
Alexandria county, Virginia. This bridge with its 
causeway built in 1808 is one mile long and has a 

wide draw over the main channel of the stream through which large sailing vessels and 

steamers may pass up to the port of Georgetown two miles beyond, which place is at the 

head of a tide water navigation reaching down by a continually widening and deepening 

stream, until at its confluence with the waters of Chesapeake bay, 108 miles, it is seven 

miles in width. The distance from the Capital to the Atlantic Ocean is 185 miles. 

To Norfolk 210 miles. Fifty miles below the Capital the water becomes salty. The 

head waters of the Potomac are in the Alleghany mountains and its entire length is 

about 400 miles. This river was called by tne Indians Cohangoruton. "River of 

Swans." Before the advent of the white man the haughty Algonquins had their tribal 

town or Capital where the superb city now lifts its 

domes and towers. The corner stone of the Capi- 
tol was laid with masonic ceremonies by George 

Washington in 1793. He was then serving the 

first year of his second term as president. Harper's 

Ferry where the Shenandoah joins the Potomac is 

fifty miles distant. Great Falls eighteen miles. 
The first white man who ever gazed upon the fair 

face of the Potomac and its beautiful landscapes 

was that renowned adventurer Captain John Smith, 

one of the Jamestown colony who with fourteen 

companions in an open barge in the S[)ring of 1608 

explored its majestic course through the unbroken 

wilderness from the Chesapeake to the head of tide 

water a few miles above the present site of the 

Capital. From his notes and observations he made 

a map of the lands bordering thestream, with their 

numerous affluents and various Indian settlements, 

which is still extant in his quaint book of travels 

and explorations. 

The flats in front of the city and over which 

Long Bridge and its causeway passes consist of 

about 1000 acres, and are now being transformed 

by the government into a vast insular park and CAPT.-MN JOHN SMITH. 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 7 

when laid out with roads and walks and planted with trees and shrubbery as contem- 
plated, will be a place of great beauty and attraction. 

Over the famous Long Bridge most of thegreat armies marching for the defence of the 
Union from the loyal states of the republic, entered Virginia during the civil war from 
1861 to 1865. Not far from the western end of the bridge along the Columbia turn- 
pike may still be seen remains of Old Fort llunyon, built by the union troops — the 
first military works raised lor the protection of Washington against the advance of the 
secession forces, and which was then the base of the first picketing and skirmishing 
operations of the great conflict. These defences were commenced by daylight of May 
24th, 1861. To Runyon's New Jersey brigade, second, third and fourth regiments be- 
longs the honor of constructing this, one of the strongest of the forts, and it was named 
for the brigade's commanding officer — Gen'l Theodore Runyon. The old works arenow 
in the midst of the extensive brick yards of Brick Haven and Waterloo. A portion of 
them yet remain, but the greater part of the historic clay thrown up here by the boys 
in blue of '61 now does service in the walls of Washington houses. The perimeter of 
this fort exceeded that of any of the other forts in the chain, covering an area of about 
twelve acres, and its armament consisted of twenty-three guns, one of which was a 
thirty pounder rifled Parrott, eight were eight inch sea coast howitzers, ten were thirty- 
two pounders and four six pounder field guns, all mounted on barbette carriages. These 
were manned by 315 men. A strong stockade fronted the marsh between the fort and 
the river. Fort Albany was in the immediate vicinity to the westward and Fort 
Jackson was to the northward. 

While the great line of defences was in course of construction by the armed mul- 
titudes who swarmed all the hills and valleys from Washington to Great Hunting 
creek, the Long Bridge* played a very prominent part in the startling activities of the 
war. Over its broad thoroughfare passed unceasingly, night and day, railway mili- 
tary trains, commissary supply wagons, hurrying regiments of infantry, cavalry and 
artillery, dashing couriers and clattering mounted orderlies. The Capital was filled 
with contractors, speculators and adventurers of every description, and with relatives 
and friends of the soldiers, all of whom found their way over the river by this bridge 
to the numerous encampments. 

A new steel bridge with capacity to accommodate the great and increasing railway 
and other travel over the stream, and of architectural design, in harmony with the pro- 
posed plans for the beautifying of the National Capital, is already in course of constuc- 
tion to take the place of the old structure. 




THE OLD LONG BRIDGE ACROSS THE POTOMAC. 

*If any of the boys in blue who came down I'rom the loyal states in the early sixties for the defence of the 
Union, crossing the bridge, had imagined that they were on a holiday excursion to see gay and easy times 
their visions were soon dispelled when they began the incessant drills and the laborious work of erecting 
the great lines of defences about the National Capital. 



8 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

On either side of the river, both in Virginia and Maryland, the hills presented a 
continuation of heights which commanded the territory lying beyond, and these were 
quicklv taken advantage of by the engineering department of the United States army. 
Strong embankments were thrown up, powerful guns were placed in position, and in 
order to give the widest range for execution, forests were leveled and in some instances 
houses and barns removed, so that the enemy would have no chance to come upon the 
city unawares. The forts were constructed of earth, timber and masonry in the n-ost 
careful and thorough manner. They contained wells, bombproofs and magazines ; 
were surrounded by ditches, fringed and planted with abbatis of sharp-pointed branch- 
es and were armed variously. Well nigh forty years of peace have passed since these 
defences were constructed. To-day, hardly one ot them remains intact as when the 
notes of reveille and tattoo sounded in their midst. Nearly all of them have been de- 
molished. The ramparts have been leveled, the ditches and rifle pits filled : and the 
plowshare of the farmer is again passing over them as before the war. As the forts 
were erected and provided with their armaments, they were as quickly garrisoned by the 
troops that poured into Washington from the north, and many of the bravest and best 
of tne soldiers who fought for the perpetuity of the government saw their first service 
in the forts around Washington. 

THE SYSTEM OF DEFENCES. 

By the ist of January, 1862, the entire defensive line, mounting about 500 guns, was 
in an advanced condition, although not completed. It was not, indeed, until thesummer 
of 1865 that they were in anything like a finished shape. When completed the works 
comprised 62 forts with 44 supporting batteries, the whole having an armament of over 
1,000 guns and requiring 16,000 men to properly man them. The first suggestion to 
erect fortifications was made early in May, 1861, by Gen. Mansfield, who was then in 
command of the troops in the city, and he indicated Arlington Heights as the best 
place to begin. By the 24th of that month Forts Ellsworth, Runyon, Albany and 
Corcoran were established for the special purpose of protection to the approaches 
of the bridges and ferries on the Potomac. It was not until the first battle of Bull 
Run had been fought, however, that a systematic plan of defense was thought of. 
After the battle of Bull Run the cluster of commanding heights, four miles west of 
Alexandria and six miles from Washington, were occupied by the confederates, but in 
October of that year the hills were ap-ain taken possession of and fortified by the Union 
troops. The system of works constituting what are called the defenses of Washington 
were divided into four groups: First, those south of the Potomac, commencing with 
Fort Willard below Alexandria, and terminating with Fort Smitn, opposite George- 
town, comprising twenty-nine forts and eleven supporting batteries; second, Forts 
Ethan Allen and Marcy at the Virginia end of the Chain bridge, with their five bat- 
teries ifor field guns: third, those north of the Potomac and between that river and the 
Anacostia, commencing with Fort Sumner and terminating with Fort Lincoln, com- 
pri mg nineteen forts, four batteries armed with heavy guns and twenty-three batteries 
of field guns; fourth, those south of the Anacostia, commencing with Fort Mahon at 
Benning and terminating with Fort Greble at Oxon run, nearly opposite Alexandria, 
comprising twelve forts and one armed battery. 

Looking to the left beyond the reclaimed flats from this end of the bridge may be 
seen at the junction of Anacostia with the Potomac, the Arsenal, containing a museum 
of heavy an'd small arms, antique and modern, in which may be studied by the curious 
in such things, their wonderful evolution from their primitive forms and processes of 
loading and firing. Among the artillery are many guns which have been captured in 
various battles and sieges. The arsenal grounds are notable as having been the place 
where the cliief conspirators in the assasination ot President Lincoln were hanged. 

In full view to the right of the bridge on an elevation overlooking a vast and 
varied landscape of cities, highlands and river, stands the classic home of George 
Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of George Washington and grandson of Martha 
Washington, erected in 1802. The place is known as Arlington. The large estate 
consisting of 1160 acres on the death of Mr. Custis in 1S57 became the prop- 



OF Virginia and Maryland 9 

erty of Gen. Robt. E. Lee who had married his daughter and only child Marv Ann. 

Mr. Custis had inherited his estate from his father, John Parke Custis who purchi.sed it 

of Gerrard Alexander in 1745. 

General Lee became the leader of the seces- 
sion armies and the estate in those troublous 
times being unoccupied by its owner was in 
1863 sold under the confiscation act for the 
payment of the direct tax which had been lev- 
ied upon it for ^92.00 and became the prop- 
erty of the L S. (jovernment which took pos- 
session of the premises and set apart 200 acres 
of the domain for the interment of dead sol- 
diers of the Union Army. In this National 
Cemetery specially laid out and beautified with 
reference to the patriotic purposes in view, 
nearly 20,000 soldiers have been buried from 
battle fields, hospitals and homes. The cere- 
monies at this beautiful place on every Deco- 
ration Day under the direction and loving care 
ire very imposing and always attract many thou- 
South Carolina seceded 





Arlington Mansion. 



of the Grand Army of the Republic 

sands of the surviving veterans and friends of the departed. 

from the Union in December, 1S60 and CoL Lee remained at his post in the United 

States army. Other States followed and he kept his place. Fort Sumpter was fired 

upon and the United States troops had a collision with the citizens of Baltimore and 

still he adhered to the government. But on the 19th of April, i86i the convention in 

session in Virginia, passed the oidmance of secession and united her fate with that of 

the south. Col. Lee then believing that his allegiance was first due to his native state, 

resigned his commisbion and joined the Southern confederacy. 

The title of the Government to all of the Arling- 
ton domain has been perfected since the convey- 
ance by the confiscation act, by acknowledged sat- 
isfactory values 5150,000, to the legal heirs of the 
property. This interesting locality with its great 
natural beauties, its adornments of art, its shaded 
walks and drives, its fine panoramic views and its 
sacred burial associations the tourist should not 
overlook or pass by. It may be reached every hour 
• of the day by the cars of the Electric road. 

From AJdison Station just beyond the brick 
works, a mile to the left and on the Potomac bank 
still stands the old Custis homestead of Abingdon 
wherethetiupesistersof the Arlington proprietor — 
Nellie Custis, who becamiC Mrs. Lawrence Lewis of 
Woodlawn, Elizabeth Custis, afterwards Mrs. 
Thomas Law and Martha Custis afterwaids M's. 
Thomas Peters vvere born. Theyvvere the children 
of Col. John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert, 
daughterof BenedictCalvertof Mount Airy. Mary- 
land. Their father. Col. John Custis son of Martha 
Danriridge Custis died of camp fever contracted in 

the siege of Yorktown, 1781 and their grandmother ,^ ^ x. x 

,. , . . , / • , . Col. Robert E. Lee at 40. 

Martha, -igain changed her name in 1759 and went 

to live with Col. George Washington at Mount Vernon. Much i'lteresting history 
pertains to Abingdon and its first occupants. 

At Addison Station may be seen the dry bed o"the channel of the Old G-crgeto-.^ ?• 
and Alexandria Canal, a branch of the great commercial waer way connecting tide 




10 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



water of the Potomac with navigation on the Ohio, a distance of 360 miles, an enter- 
prise commenced in 1828, and which grew out of the efforts of the projectors of the 
"Potomac Company" of 1784 of whom George Washington was the most prominent 
worker. 

Along Four Mile run which the electric road crosses, four miles from the Capital, 
General Washington owned several hundred acres of land, and near its head waters, 
where the Old Columbia pike crosses them he had mills, from which were shipped 
cargoes of fiour to the West Indies in the earlier Colonial times. Then, the run unvex- 
ed by bridges was deep and navigable for sea going craft. On this stream was 
situated the convalescent camp of the civil war. 

From Four Mile Run to Alexandria, four miles beyond, the road passes through a 
beautifully undulating and fertile stretch of country, which suburban improvement is 
invading and gradually dotting with handsome residences. Through this stretch the 
contemplated avenue or boulevard from Arlington and the Memorial Bridge to Mt. 
Vernon, a distance of seventeen miles, when constructed, will doubtless pass. 



^' 



-^ 







ABINGDON HOUSE — BIRTH-PLACE OF NELLIE CUSTIS. 

At Spring Park Station the road strikes the Leesburg Turnpike, the Old Military 
highway over which General Edward Braddock and most of his army of British re- 
gulars and provincial troopers marched in the spring of 1755 to expel the French and 
their Indian allies from the lands of the Ohio river. The regulars consisted of the 44th 
regiment under Col. Peter Halket and the 48th commanded by Col. Thomas Dunbar, 
mustering 500 men, each with supplies and provisions and about Soo provincial troops. 



The Braddock road over which the gay regulars and provincials made their slow and wearisome march 
is still a way and a hic:hvvny, holding its course to the mountains though not as then rugged with stumps of 
trees and boulders and shadowed by unbroken forests but graded and smoothed for easy and pleasant 
travel and lying through a region of farms and hamlets. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



11 



They left Alexandria, then but a straggling hamlet in the forest, the second week in 
April, and reached the Ohio borders the first week in July ensuing, marching a distance 
of more than ''oo miles through an unbroken wilderness with swollen streams innum- 
erable to ford, and rugged hills and mountains to toil over. The disastrous battle 
was fought on the ninth of July. Out of 86 officers, 26 were killed, among them Brad- 
dock and Halket. The army after the battle, 
under Col. Dunbar marched to Philadelphia and 
went into winter quarters. 

For Braddock's obstinacy in refusing to listen 
to the advice given him by old Indian fighters as 
to the modes of conducting the campaign, which 
later he vainly regretted ; he paid the penalt}' 
with the loss of his life. With him were slain 
twenty-six out of his eighty-six officers, among 
them Sir Peter Halket ; and thirty-seven were 
wounded including Col. Gage and other field 
officers. Gage afterwards figured as a general in 
the British army, fighting against the colonists. 
Braddock was rash, and courted every danger. 
Shirley his secretary was shot dead and both his 
English aides were disabled. The battle was 
a rout. The regulars were panic striken and fled, 
even fired upon the provincials, mistaking them 
in the smoke for the enemy. Gen. Braddock 
had been in the British service for more than 
thirty years and had participated in many severe 
engagements under the Duke of Cumberland, 
Although a brave soldier, he was rash and impet- 
uous and tyrannical. 




MAJOR GENL. EDWARD BRADDOCK. 



Braddock had five horses disabled under him. At last, a bullet entered his right 
side and he fell mortally wounded. He was with difficulty brought off the field and 
borne along in the train of the fugitives. All the first day he was silent, but at night 
he roused himself to say — "who would have thought it". Dunbar was now in com- 
mand. On the i2th of July he destroyed the remaining artillery, and burned public 
stores and the heavy baggage to the value of a hundred thousand pounds sterling, 
pleading in excuse, that he had the orders for so doing of the dying general. In mid- 
summer he evacuated Fort Cumberland and then hurried to Philadelphia for winter 
quarters. At night Braddock roused again to say, "we shall know the next time 
better how to manage them," and died. His grave was made near Fort Necessity. 
Thus ended the famous expedition of 1755 against the French and Indians and the 
first days of military glory in Alexandria. 

Since the occurrence of the events we have narrated, hardly a century and a half 
has passed, but the circumstances seem dim to us now and very remote; for the succeed- 
ing years have wrouuht so many changes for the colonies and the states. They are 
not so distant after all when measured by the years of a long life time. 

The straggling hamlet of Belle Haven, then a frontier post in the midst of perils and 
alarms from Indian incursions, has grown to be a pretentious town, and the wave of 
civilization has rolled westward two thousand miles beyond it and encompassed with 
its blessings, the realms of a continent. It presents today but few traces of the ex- 
citing circumstances of those primeval times. The old council house where the colon- 
ial governors deliberated, still remains ; and here and there, other land marks are 
pointed out to revive memories and traditions, a hipped roofed house, moss grown, with 
quaint gables, an outside chimney and dormer windows. Now and then in digging in 
the streets, a crown stamped button from a red coat of one of Braddock's regulars, or 
a coin with the superscription. "Brittania and Georgius 2d," or a rusted flint lock 



12 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

are unearthed, which to the fanciful gazer brings up whole chapters of history of the long 
vanished years and fan into glowing embers their smouldering remains. 

Few great battles were fought in the vicinity of Washington during the civil war, 
but this neighborhood was well peopled with soldiers who were kept constantly on the 
alert, for raids, and skirmishes: and small actions were matters of frequent occurrence. 
The most significant and the bloodiest fight of all was the first Bull Run battle, which 
was fought about twenty-one miles from the city. The second fight, known also as 
the battle of Bull Run, was fought at Manassas, within a few miles of the first battle. 

During the early part of the war the citizens of Washington were well acquainted 
wiih the sounds of the conflict ; and the fear of invasion was constantly in the minds 
of all. One of the earliest skirmishes that took place in this immediate vicinity was 
that at Edwards' Ferry, Tune i8, 1861, and again October 4, and October 21 and 22, 
in the same year, there were actions at that place. An unimportant skirmish took 
place at Seneca Mills, June 14 and 15, r86i, and July 7 of that year there were skir- 
mishes at Rockville and great Falls. A few days later, in July, the forces of the two 
armies met at Silver Spring in a brief engagement. 

Early in May, 1861, Alexandria was evacuated by the confederate forces and later 
in the month the Union army moved into Virginia and occupied Arlington Heights 
and Alexandria, capturing Captain Ball of the confederate army and his cavalry troop 
of thirty-five men. Colonel E. E. Ellsworth, commanding the nth New York, known 
as the ist Fire Zouaves of New York city, was shot and killed in Alexandria. 

August i8th, 1861, there was a skirmish at Pohick Church, Va., about twelve miles 
from Alexandria, and later in the month there were skirmishes at Ball's Cross roads 
and Baily's Corners. The first day of August there was a skirmish at Munson's Hill. 
Fairfax Court House, which is about seventeen miles from Washington, was the scene 
of an engagement June i, 1861, when a company of regular cavalry cut through the 
confederate lines. Six Union soldiers were killed and twenty confederates. In the 
middle of July this town was occupied by the Union forces, under General McDowell, 
and this inaugurated the Bull Run campaign, which ended in the first battle by that 
name, which was fought July 21, 1861. 

Throughout the rest of the war there was hardly a month in which some engagement 
did not occur on Virginia soil within twenty miles of Alexandria. The confederates 
were making constant efforts to drive back the pickets thrown out by the Union forces 
and to force inward the line of defences. There were engagements at Dranesville, 
Leesburg, Burke's Station and Dumfries. 

Just as Richmond was the object of a general campaign on the part of the Union 
army, so Washington was the goal toward which flying columns of southern forces 
were constantly being thrown. The nearest approach to an actual invasion of the 
capital occurred July 10, 1864, when Fort Reno and Fort Stevens, a (ew miles north 
of the city, were attacked by a part of Gen. Jubal A. Eirly's raiding army, A fight 
took place at Fort Stevens on the 7lh street road, and after a sharp struggle the con- 
federates were driven back and the threatened capture of Washington was averted. 
The fighting on this occasion covered three days, although at no time did the engage- 
ment amount to a fixed battle. Forty union soldiers were killed in the various en- 
counters on that occasion, 

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. 

Seven miles below the National Capital, on the opposite shore of the Potomac River 
stands the city of Alexandria, with a population of eighteen thousand and a history 
dating back to the year 1748, when Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, and 
their associates, as incorporators by the authority of the General Assembly of Virginia, 
organized the beginning of its municipal government. Fifty years before that time 
not a single white man had permanent residence there, and only a few years before, 
1669, the whole of the domain from Great Hunting Creek to the falls of the Potomac 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 




extending miles inland and embracing six thou- 
sand acres, had been purchased by John Alexan- 
der in 1699 of Capt. Robert Howsen, for 66co 
pounds of tobacco. Howsen had secured his 
right to it by a Royal Patent granted to him in 
1688 by Governor Berkeley for having brought 
to Virginia a certain number of imigrants. The 
nucleus of the town, was first formed somewhere 
near the site of the gas works, and was called 
Belle Haven. 

The streets of this old town cross each other 
regulary at right angles and some of them are 
adorned by many fine residences, among which 
are types in plenty of the old Colonial days. 
In these houses are still preserved, much old fur- 
niture, and many valuable portraits of the celeb- 
rities of the Colonial days. Washington street, 
laid out by General Washington, is one hundred 
feet in width. King street through which the 
road passes for a mile in its course, is the main 
and business thoroughfare. A number of streets 
such as Royal, King, Prince, Duke, Queen and 
Princess still savor of the old time spirit of roy- 
alty when Virginia was under Kingly rule. 

THE FAIRFAX HOUSE. „. j ifV,, , r> a i -ii 

Pitt and Wilkes and St. Asaph streets will 
COR. CAMERON AND ST. ASAPH sTs. remind ouc of ihe kindly offices of friends 
in Great Britain during the colonial contest. 

The city fronts at a convenient elevation on the river where the depth will admit of 
vessels drawing over twenty-five feet of water. Once its port was a very busy one, 
with a commerce extending to the West Indies, South America and Europe. Before 
the time of railroads the merchants of the place kept up an extensive trade in wheat 
and other farm commodities, brought over the turnpikes by the caravans of white 
sheet topped wagons from the rich lands of the Shenandoah and adjoining regions. 
I The old town's historical associations are of surpassing interest to every lover of the 
lore of Colonial timrs. No locality in the thirteen original provinces was more inti- 
mately connected with the beginnings and subsequent development of the spirit and 
feeling which led to the declaration of American Independence. It was indeed a hot 

bed of patriotism all through 
the long struggle. Her people 
were early imbued with the spirit 
of resistance to the oppressive 
measures of Great Britian and 
no town in all the colonies re- 
sponded more promptly and 
continually for troops and re- 
sources, through the contest. 
"Here it was" says a cotempo- 
rary English traveler "that Geo. 
Washington amid the plaudits 
of the inhabitants first stepped 
forth as the patron of sedition 
and revolt and subscribed fifty 
pounds for the support of hostili- 
ties." The town was then about 
twenty-five years old and its 
population about five thousand. 




THE LLOYD HOUSE. 

WASHINGTON AND QUEEN STS. 



14 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Through the years of the continental strife and general trouble incident to it, as 
everywhere else, the industries of the town were greatly depressed, but prosperity re- 
turned with the dawn of peace. The wagon trains again came down with their freight, 
from the far frontiers, and commerce again unfurled her sails as in the years agone. 
In 1814, the population was nearly 8000. In 1816, two years after the capitulation to 




CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 

and plunder by Admiral Gordon, commander of the British fleet up the Potomac, the 
arrivals of sails at its jjort were, nineteen shijis, forty-two brigs, fifty-two schooners 
from foreign ports and three hundred and twenty-two coastwise entries. 

Had the conditions of trade and traffic and the various local economic industries 
which then existed continued unchanged through the succeeding years, Alexandria to- 
day could doubtless show a population double and treble that which it now claims. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



15 



The construction of the Potomac Canal and the laying of the three several railways, 
the Baltimore and Ohio, with its branch to Winchester, the Midland and the Loudoun 
and Hampshire, ended the old time wagon industries over the mountains and diverted 
most of the wonted trade to other points. 

Here in the spring of 1755 met the Colonial Governors, Dinwiddie of Virginia, 
Shirley of Massachusetts, De Lancy of New York, Morris of Pennsylvania, Sharpe of 
Maryland and Dobbs of North Carolina, to arrange plans for the prosecution of the 
French and Indian war on the Ohio river. This meeting of the colonial governors 
might be called the second congress in America. Tiiat of the council at Albany in 
1747, the first. 

Christ Church, built in 1767 on Washington street near to King with its unaltered 
pew of George Washington will bring back forcibly the plainer days when the great 
hero mingled so often in religious service with his neighbors and friends of old Fairfax. 




, j^ifrt«iTf jitttft 



MARSHALL HOUSE. 



The spacious rooms of the Old City Hotel on Royal street between King and Cam- 
eron will call up many festive scenes when the same revered personage was wont to 
lay aside his dignity for the time and trip gaily through the mazes of the dance, with 
fair women and brave men: here also, he had his headquarters when he visited Alexan- 
dria, and here in 1799 he gave his last military order to the Alexandria volunteers. 

The Marshall House on King street above Royal, will make fresh the tragic circum- 
stances of the killing of Col. Ellsworth of the New York Zouaves, May 24th, iS6r. 
That was the first blood shed in Virginia durmg the war. The following tragic ac- 
count of the occurrence is from the Alexandria Gazette : 

"Probably no survivor of the Army of the Potomac visits Alexandria without inquir- 
ing for the Marshall House. It became famous in history in the early days of the late 
war, and has so remained ever since. It was in this building that one of the bloodiest 
tragedies of the war was enacted, in which two men met their death in a terrible en- 
counter. 

"The spring of 1861 found Alexandria, as well as many other Southern cities, in a 
ferment of excitement. The place was held by a few companies of Confederate 
soldiers, who flaunted the stars and bars literally within sight of the Capitol and under 
the guns of the Federal steamer ''Pawnee," which was anchored off the city at the time. 



16 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 




"Onebeautiful Saturday afternoon, a fewweeks before 
the lamentable tragedy which concentrated the atten- 
tion of the country on Alexandria, James Jackson, who 
was the lessee of the Marshall House, a sort of tavern 
more than a hotel, situated on the southeast corner 
of King and Pitt streets, flung to the breeze, from 
the roof of that building, a large sized Confederate 
flag, with the defiant assertion that the man who 
lowered it would do so over his dead body- The oc- 
casion was one of some rejoicing and enthusiasm among 
those who had cast their fortunes with the Confederacy, 
or who sympathized with the disunion movement. 

"A few days before the capture of Alexandria, 
President Lincoln and his Cabinet, from some elevat- 
ed spot in Washington, with field glasses, viewed the 
objectionable flag, and in the course of the conversation 
that followed, Mr. Lincoln remarked that the ensign 
of treason would not remain there long ; nor did it, 
as on the night of Thursday, May 23, 1861, a silent 
move was made on this defiant city, which resulted in 
COL. ELMER E. ELLSWORTH. its capturc and the stampede of its Confederate garri- 

son to Manassas Junction on the Orange and Alexandria (now Virginia Midland) 
Railroad, about twenty seven miles distant. 

"The plans of the Federal troops, through some miscarriage, proved ineffectual so far 
as capturing the rebel soldiers was concerned, and only a small company was netted, 
'i'he Federal troops were sent in three directions, when the move on the city was made — 
some by way of Chain Bridge above Georgetown, others via the Long Bridge, where 
trains now pass from Washington into- Virginia, and the remainder by water. The 
Confederate pickets around the wharves and on the outskirts of the city gave the alarm 
in time to allow a safe retreat, and when Uncle Sam's soldiers entered the city, those of 
■the Confederacy were well on their way south. 

"The New York Fire Zouaves were among those who reached Alexandria by water. 
No doubt their young and patriotic, though ill-starred colonel had viewed the obnox- 
ious flag from a distance as well as Mr. Lincoln, and had longed for the opportunity of 

lowering it. The Marshall House is situated 
five blocks in a vvesterly direction from the 
wharf where the Zouaves landed. It was very 
early in the morning when Colonel Ellsworth, 
with a small squad of his men, proceeded up 
the street of Alexandria, little dreaming that 
in le.ss than half an hour's lime his lifeless body 
was to be borne over the same street to the 
boat from which he had just landed. Cameron 
street, a commer< iai thoroughfare, up which he 
wended his wav, was comparatively deserted. 
But few people were moving, the bulk of the 
city's inhabitants being asleep. The inmates 
of the Marshall House were still in the arms of 
Morpheus, oblivious to the fact that the rebels 
hail vanished before the defenders of the Union, 
while the flag of the Confederacy was hanging 
limp in the absence of any breeze. The ill- 
fated Colonel Ellsworth soon reached the fatal 
tavern and with his half-dozen followers ob- 
tained an entrance. Meeting with no opposi- 
THE ELLSWORTH TRAGEDY. tiou, and uot dreaming tor a moment they 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 17 

would encounter any resistance in the face nf the fact that the city had been captured, 
the colonel proceeded imnaediately to the roof for the purpose of taking possession of 
the coveted flag. 

"After passing through the front door, a staircase was encountered which ran spiral- 
ly, the first turn leading to the second floor, the third to the next floor, and the fourth 
to the garret and roof. The colonel and his men, before they reached the roof, met a 
man in his night-clothes coming out of one ot the rooms, of whom they inquired for the 
proprietor. The man replied that he was a boarder himself, and knew nothing of the 
whereabouts of the proprietor. It has since been suggested that the unknown individ- 
ual was Jackson himself. It took the Zouaves but a few minutes to lower the flag and 
detach it from the pole which protruded from the trap-door, and Colonel Ellsworth 
having taken it in charge, began his descent. About half-way down the flight of stairs 
leading from the garret, he saw Jackson, but partially dressed, emerge from one of the 
rooms on the landing armed with a double-barrelled gun. Ellsworth, little dreaming 
of the bellicose nature of the man with whom he had to deal, pleasantly remarked to 
him, "I've gotten a prize." Jackson made some defiant retort, and, before any one 
could divine his intention, raised his gun and discharged it at the colonel. An extra- 
ordinary charge of buckshot had been placed in the weapon, and a hole was torn in 
the unfortunate Ellsworth's breast large enough in which to place one's fist. Colonel 
Ellsworth, it is said by some, fell without a groan, though others have asserted that he 
gave vent to an audible sigh. In his descent he fell on his face on the landing, and 
while his life's blood was flowing his followers were avenging his death. The weapon 
Jackson used was an ordinary double-barrelled shotgun, and after killing Ellsworth he 
took aim at those who were with him, but before he could pull the trigger the second 
time the gun was knocked upward by the Zouaves and the charge entered the door frame. 
Francis E. Brownell, one of the squad, then sent a bullet crashing into Jackson's head 
and as he fell, sword bayonets were thrust through him. Jackson's body was forced 
down the flight ot stairs leading to the second floor, and fell on the landing. The body 
of Ellsworth was subsequently raised by those who had accompanied him into the fatal 
building, covered with an American flag, and silently and sorrowfully borne to the boat 
from which he had a short time before landed. 

"Considering the terrible tragedy which had been enacted, the day proved a remark- 
ably quiet one, Jackson's body was soon picked up by his friends, washed, and placeii 
in a coffin, and it lay in state throughout day and night. 

"The scene of the tragedy was visited by numbers during the day. The landing up- 
on which Jackson fell and where he had writhed in death agony presented a sickening 
sight. Blood filled a space about two yards square, and it was necessary to go on tip- 
toe to avoid walking in it. There was a pool of blood about a foot square where Ells- 
worth had fallen. 

"Colonel Farnham succeeded Ellsworth in command of the Zouaves. On the 21st of 
July following, the regiment participated in what proved to the Federal army the in- 
glorious battle of Bull Run. The Zouaves and the famous Black Horse Cavalry en- 
gaged in hand-to-hand encounter throughout the eventful day, with terrible carnage to 
both, during which Colonel Farnham was struck on the ear by a piece of shell, from the 
effects of which he died a few weeks later. In the stampede from the fatal field the 
Zouaves suffered greatly, and the Monday following, the survivors straggled into Alex- 
andria in a bedraggled, dejected, condition, many of their comrades being then stark 
and stiff on the bloody field of Bull Run. A cold rain had set in, and no provision 
had been made for their reception, and they were on the verge of suffering. It was in 
this emergency that nunibers of the prominent people of Alexandria, though southern 
sympathizers, exhibited a christian spirit which the good-natured Zouaves were not slow 
to appreciate. Houses were opened and entertainment afforded many of them and 
their straggling confreres by parties whose political predilection; -v :re hostile to the prin- 
ciples for which the vanquished had fought. 

"The Zouaves lingered about Alexandria for a few months, and the term of theit 
enlistment having expired, they were mustered out of i-ervire 



18 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



"Jackson, the destroyer of Colonel Ellsworth, was a typical Southerner. Though 
brave and fearless, his political predilections had run riot with his judgment, and, 
rather than let the rash threat of protecting his flag come to naught, preferred sacri- 
ficing his life. There is little to be said in palliation of his act save that he lived at a 
time when men's blood had reached the fever-heat of excitement, and when rashness 
was occasionally exhibited by the champions of both sides. 

"The killing of Ellsworth produced the greatest sorrow as well as exasperation in the 
North, and Alexandria was immediately beseiged by parties from a distance, anxious to 
inspect the scene of the tragedy. A piece of oil-cloth on the landing on which the col- 
onel fell was cut up and carried away by relic hunters. The flooring subsequently met 
the same fate, and finally the balusters were cut away, piece by piece, and carried 
North. For several years the old Marshall House was looked upon as a sad memento 
ot war times by soldiers of both sides — by the Federals as a place where a brave and 
promising young ofificer laid down his life at the beginning of the four-years conflict, 
and by the Confederates as the spot where a determined sympathizer of their cause 
showed a courage in the face of inevitable death equalled by few on either side. 

"About twenty years ago, on a cold, weird night, the Marshall House was found 
to be on fire, and, despite the exertions of the fire department, but little more than the 
bare walls were left standing. Upon being rebuilt, it ceased to be a house of enter- 
tainment and the new building is used for other purposes." 

There is more at Alexandria to call up the memory of Washington than in any other 
place in our country except that of Mount Vernon. Alexandria was, emphatically, his 
own town. It was his post-office, his voting and marketplace. It was the meeting- 
place of the lodge of Freemasons to which he belonged. He was a member of its cor- 
poration council, and owned property within its limits. He was the commander of 
its local militia, and was a member of its volunteer fire company. He slept in the 
houses of many of its leading citizens, and danced the minuet with its fairest daughters. 
He was a vestryman of the parish, and was a regular attendant of Christ Church, where 
his pew is kept undisturbed to this day. 

This farthing, struck in the London 
mint in the year 1752, when George the 
Second was reigning monarch was doubt- 
less brought over the sea by one of Brad- 
dock's soldiers three years later and put 
into circulation in the new born hamlet 
of Belle Haven. From its worn appear- 
anceit must have been kept nimbly going 
from pocket to pocket and the story of 
its wanderings if we could read it now would be a very entertaining one. Mayhap it 
helped to pay for many a mug of cider or grog, or dinner, while the troops were waiting 
for their long march through the wilderness. 

THE OLD TAVERN. 

In the ball room of the city hall the birth-night balls, in honor of the birthday of the 
king and queen, were given before the revolution, when Gen. George Washington 
was a very young man and danced at them with no thought of disloyalty. From the 
court yard went all the coaches for Georgetown, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, 
before the city of Washington was anything but swamp and forests, and not even I'aid- 
out, and to Williamsburg, Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans, as soon as a 
regular road was opened through the wilderness. In those days Alexandria was con- 
sidered a central place of importance to which the fashions were sent from Philadelphia. 
Later, when the British came to help fight the French and Indians, when General 
Braddock had his headquarters, and held his council of war in the Carlyle House on 
the opposite side of the market, some of his officers, and many people of distinction, 
were glad to stay at the City Hotel, then known as Claggett's or Gadsby's Tavern. 
Later still, long afterwards in fact, when Gen. Lafayette was entertained by the 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



19 



JVIasonic Lodge, "he alighted from his carriage at the door of the City Hotel at 
3 o'clock," dined at the banquet in the ball room, and lodged there during the 
festivities incident to his visit. 

VISITOR GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 

The visit of General Lafayette to Alexandria is one of the green spots in the city's 

history. There are some now living who remem- 
ber the occasion ; others who have a dim recol- 
lection of it when, as little children, they toddled 
along, having hold of their parents' hands. This 
was in the year 1824, the city at that time put 
on a holiday attire, anti the enthusiasm animat- 
ed all from the youngest to the oldest. 

At that time hundreds of Alexandrians could 
be found who had fought in the seven years' con- 
flict for independence. To them the name of 
Lafayette was sacred, and many who participat- 
ed in the honors conferred upon the illustrious 
Frenchman had been encouraged by his presence 
and valor on the field of battle. 

It is unnecessary to describe all the details of 
his reception and entertainment while here. Let 
it suffice when it is said that almost every one in 
the community turned out and vied in doing 
honor to him, who when the infant republic most 
needed help, left his own land and cast his fortune 
with us, and lived to see the independence of a 
country declared which has grown and prosper- 
ed ever since. 

The house where Lafayette was entertained 

while in Alexandria is one of the most promi- 

the city. It is situated on the southwest corner of St. Asaph and Duke 

Such are a few of the many points of historic interest which the old town pos- 




THE LAFAYETTE HOUSE. 



nent in 

stre^jLS 

sesses for the curious wayfarer within its borders 

THE CARLYLE HOUSE. 

Few of all the colonial buildings of A-^irginia left standing, have more interesting his- 
torical associations than the Old Car- 



lyle Mansion wiiich forms a portion 
of the Braddock Hotel on North Fair- 
fax street. It was built by John Car- 
lyle in i745,-\vhen the town was in its 
infancy and surrounded by forests. 
At that time the waves of the Poto- 
mac washed close to the walls of the 
building, but by subsequent levellings 
and fillings of theimmediatehill slopes 
for the city's improvements, they have 
receded to the distance of several hun- 
dred yards. 

The structure of cut stone and 
massive walls, thanks to the reveren- 
tial care of generations of owners is 
still in a good state of preservation. 
In the colonial days when it stood a- 
lone it must have presented a stately 
appearance with its wide porch on the 




CARLYLE HOUSE. — FRONT VIEW. 



pcmj: old historic landmarks 



.vi.'si and its spacious veranda on the east, comntianding an extensive view of the river 
and the heights of the Maryland shore beyond. The lower apartments are wainscoted 
10 the ceiling and ornamented with carved work in oak. 

The builder of the Mansion House with a commendable reverence for the associa- 
tions of the older days, which witnessed the founding of the town, while he had to 




CARLYLE HOUSE, REAR VIEW. 

obstruct the building on two sides would not allow it to be altered nor hidden, and it 
no»v stands apart with its lower floors, ^council chamber and all, just as the council left 
it in 1755. The personages who composed the council were: Gen. Edward Braddock, 



*The council house where the governc-rs and commandevs of the king deliberated in secret sessions, is 
hut little changed. Its mnssive structure has endured well through the long years. In its untenanted 
chombnrs the cricket chirps and the spider fashions its web. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 

Commodore Keppel; and the colonial governors: Shirley of Massachusetts, De L . 
of New York; Morris of Pennsylvania, Sharpe of Maryland, Dinwiddie of Vinii) -', 
Dobbs of North Carolina, GenejalSt. Clair and /enjamin Franklin. They met '■ 
provide against the alarming emergencies from the encroachments of the French an 
Indians on the western frontiers. 

Alexandria is connected with other towns and cities by the Southern Railwa\ . 
Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk 
and Western railway lines: and Steamers ply regularly to Baltimore, Norfolk and other 
points. Thirty-nine trains of the Washington and Mount Vernon railway oass through 
the city daily. Fairfax Court House is fourteen miles distant, Manassas iwenty-seven, 
Winchester ninety, Fredericksburg fifty miles, Richmond one hundred and ten miles 
and Norfolk two hundred and ten miles. 

The city and county of Alexandria were included in that portion of the District of 
Columbia ceded in 1791 by the State of Virginia to the general government. 

The District was ten miles square and contained 100 square miles. The square lay 
diagonally, each angle facing one of the cardinal points of the compass. In 1846, all 
that portion of the District consisting of about 36 square miles lying on the west bank 
of the Potomac was ceded back to Virginia. 

Before the final establishment of the seat of government on the Potomac, offers of 
land and money for that purpose were made, by the inhabitants of Trenton, Lancaster, 
Wright's Ferry, York, Carlisle, Harrisburg, Reading, Germantown, Baltimore, George- 
town and Williamsburg, and the question of a choice of location was the source of long 
and bitter contentions until at last settled in accordance mainly with the wishes of 
Gen. Washington. 

Alexandria was the county seat of Fairfax county from 1754 to 1800. About this 
time the District of Columbia was formed and Alexandria then became the seat of the 
new county of Alexandria. At the same time the county seat of Fairfax was establish- 
ed at its present location. 

"In Alexandfia in 1775 was held a convention of delegates from Virginia and 
Maryland to consider questions relating to the navigation of the Potomac and the im- 
port duties thereof. This meeting led to demands from Pennsylvania and Delaware 
which resulted in an adjournment until September, 10 Annapolis, Md., where there 
were present, delegates from five States, who, after diligent conference, adjourned to 
meet representatives of all the thirteen States in Philadelphia, which body framed the 
Constitution of the United States. It can therefore be said that the American Union 
owes its birth to Alexandria." 

Though the former commercial glory of the old town of Alexandria has waned and 
well nigh disappeared before the newer conditions of trade and traffic — though no 
square rigged vessels lie now a days in her docks, discharging their cargoes of augar, 
molasses and other tropical productions from Barbadoes, Jamaica, Trinidad, Santa Cru^ 
and other islands of the Carribean Sea as in the years long gone — though the rumble of 
the long and incessant w;igon. trains from the west, which once crowded her streets and 
made every class of its citizens prosperous, has been silenced by the swifter transit of 
the railway train, still, there is a prestige remaining for it which the passing of the de- 
cades cannot destroy. It will alwajis be one of the places of the Old Dominion sti.te 
to attract pilgrimages from lands afar, on account of its interesting historic associations; 
and doubtless, it will become the pleasant abiding place for large accessions of people, 
who love the quiet, and whose business or social inclinations will keep them close to 
the National Capital. It will not lose its mature and leisurely ways. Its old and sub- 
stantial houses will be preserved with pious care to afford to coming generations of 
patriots fond glimpses of the vanished past, when an infant people threw cfF the tram- 
mels of kingly power, and merged into a life of independence. 

O town ot' old with changeless life. Though leaves drop on dismante d way — 

With graves and memories dear. Though quaint old houses fall. 

Thy ways bear impress all of strife, Still, is brave struggle of thy day 

But ne'er with line of fear ! Carved on each massive wall. 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

. .'ay of pride, O day of power ^Yhen fruitful West sued at thy doors, 
When ships at anchor lay, And East held out its hands, 

Aod wharves bedeck'd with princely dower And the gray piers on thy fair shores 
Loomed up in grand array. Were gates to many lands. 

At Jones' Point just before crossing Great Hunting Creek, a wide estuary of the Po- 
0U13C. stands the Light House which marks the spot where was planted the initial 
stone of the boundaries of the district, which was ten miles square. 



c# 




THE LIGHT HOUSE. 

Buder which is Buried the "initial Jurisdiction Stone" of Dist. of folumhia. 



ONE OF THE FORTY JURISDICTION 

stones" of THE DISTRICT LINES. 



The District of Columbia, was authorized by Congres'; in 1790. The survey of its 
boundaries was made in i 791. After the completion of the survey the line was cleared 
of trees to the width of twenty feet on each side of the line. Along this forty foot lane 
through the woods and over the hills and valleys, stone monuments forty in all, were 
set exactly one mile apart. They were of free stone, four feet in length, two feet in 
the earth and two feet above, and on each one of them vvas the inscription — "Jurisdic- 
tion of the United States." After the lapse of a little more than a century, all but 
two of these monuments remain in place, but in various states of preservation. 

At Jones' Point was also the site of Old Fort Columbia, a fortification of wood and 
earthwork, mounting some heavy guns, among them the" cannon left bv Braddock's 
army in 1755 as too cumbrous to transport over the mountains. This fort was the first 
attempt by the government to guard the river approaches to the National Capital, It 
was not dismantled until after the trouble with Finance in 1798-9. The heavy stones 
that made the battery, still lie at the end of the point, and some of the guns which 
made its armament are stuck up as posts at street corners along the river front. Tust 
before this fort was demolished — for it was in 1794 only a ruin — Congress determined 
to build another one on the Potomac. 

John Vermonnet was appointed by Gen. Knox, Secreta?)' of War, in May, 1794, to 
take control and direction of the new fort, etc., to be built upon the Potomac river. 
General Washington selected the site for the new fort, a riverside knoll nearly opposite 
Mount Vernon, and part of the old manor of Warburton, in Maryland. Charles Dig- 
ges had purchased the land before 1740, and naming it a manor, affected lordly manners. 
He had his river barge built like a Venetian gondola, and it was inanned with negro 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. • 23 

slaves wearing the costumes of gondoliers. His daughter, Jane Digges, married Col. 
John Fitzgerald, one of Washington's aides in the Revolution, afterwards Mayor of 
Alexandria. The land was bought of Thomas A. Digges in 1808 for ^3,000, and the 
new fort was begun in 1809. 

Battery Jlogers, some years since dismantled, was during the civil war a strong earth- 
work a few hundred yards above the Point with an armament of heavy guns. 

As you cross Great Hunting Creek, to the left on the Maryland heights is seen Fort 




P3 
IH 
Q 
K 

hi 

o 

o 

o 
p; 
o 

C3 

!? 
(—1 
Fh 

K 



Foote, and Rosier's Bluff; and further down, the expanse of Broad Bay, uniting with 
the Potomac. 

To the right, looking from the railway bridge over Hunting Creek, stretches a scope 
of country pleasingly diversified by gently sloping hills and vales, and dotted with 
hamlet and farm-houses. Prominent among the many objects of the landscape is the 



24 



« SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



tall spire of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, which, if it could speak of the transac- 
tions of some of the years of the past, could tell startling stories of the presence of 
mustering armies. Around it in almost every direction, at the beginning of the civil 
strife, the plains and hill slopes were white with the tents of the gathered regiments, 
brigades, and divisions of Union soldiers. Everywhere over the suddenly populated 
region was heard the drum's wild beats, the fife's shrill notes, the bugle's echoing calls. 
The numerous remains of their entrenchments, earthworks, and other defences still 
prominent at every turn for miles, attest with melancholy certainty the great prepara- 
tions which were then made by them for the impending conflict, which ere long broke 
with such terrific force within our borders. Union forts frowned from every salient 
point of those now so quiet and peaceful hills, and a hundred flagstaffs unfurled over 

all, their starry flags to the passing winds. 
The locality is one naturally possessing a 
saddening interest to the tourist. Every 
year it is visited by numbers of the surviv- 
ing veterans who figured in the scenes of 
the stirring times of forty years ago. 



The grass grows green on every hill 
Where circling ramj^arts frown'd. 

Forgotten all through lapse of lime 
Is every martial >ound ; 

The sword is resting on the wall 

Of lowly home or princely hall. 

The brave corn lifts in regiments. 
Ten thousand sabers in the sun ; 

The ricks replace the battle-tents, 
The bannered tassels toss and run. 

The neighing steed, the bu^''e's blast — 

These be the stories of the past. 

The earth has healed her wounded breast. 
The cannon pbjw the+ields no more ; 

The heroes rest : O let them rest 
In peace along the peaceful shores ; 

They fought for peace, for peace they fell : 

They sleep in peace and all is well. 




ONLY A MEMORY. 



Just beyond the Seminary, in full sight up the valley, are the picketing grounds which 
long divided the two armies ; and near by is Bailey's Cross Roads, where was man- 
oeuvred by the Union forces, in November, 1861, in the presence of President Lincoln 
preparatory to the peninsula campaign, one of the grandest military reviews of any 
country or time. Through these camping and drilling grounds, and far on beyond, 
may still be traced the course of the old military road, laid out through the then dense 
wilderness a hundred years jjrevious, by which a portion of Braddock's army under 
General Halket marched on their disastrous expedition. 

Halfway between the Seminary and the railway bridge, is Cameron Ford where 
Hunting Creek is crossed by the Old King's Highway from Williamsburg, the Ancient 
Capital of Virginia, to the Shenandoah River. Over this highway General Sherman at 
the close of the Civil War led his army back to the National Capital on their return 
from their march from "Atlanta to the Sea." Over this same highway too, Washing- 
ton always passed when he rode into Alexandria on horseback or in his coach. 

A short distance above the Electric Railway is the new iron bridge of the turnpike 
to Accotink ei{^it miles below. On Seminary Heights are the remains of Fort Worth 
constructed by Gen. Kearney's first New Jersey brigade in 1861. It had an arma- 
ment of heavy and long range guns. Groui)ed around this fort in close proximity so 
as to command all the approaches to Alexandria were Forts Ellsworth, Farnsworth, 
^Villard, NVeed, O'Rourke and Lyons. The last named, was on Mount Eagle and in- 
cluded within its works the home of Bryan, eighth Lord Fairfax whose title was confirm- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



2o 



.ed to him by the English house of Lords in 1800. He was the son of William Fairfax 
of Belvoir, and was for two years a rector of Christ Church. Although he was an ar- 
dent royalist, the friendship between him and Washington always continued the same. 
Leaving the bridge at Great Hunting Creek the railway enters and passes through the 
lands of the "New Alexandria Land and Riverlmprovement Company." Their town, 
projected a few years ago has not yet realized the sanguine hopes of its projectors but 
the new era of general prosperity, thrift and progress will doubtless bring to its admir- 
able situation for manufacturing industries all the needed possibilities for success. 




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From New Alexandria the road passes over an alhivial level, formerly covered with a 
dense forest, until it reaches the station which takes 'ts name from the near by Dyke, 
constructed just after the Revolution by Dr. Augustus Smith of West Grove plantation 
of which it was a part, at a great expense, to make a large scope of meadow, by keep- 



26 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



ing out the waters. The undertaking proved successful but the embankments were cut 
a few years after by some malicious person, and were never repaired. 

Along the crests of the range of hills to the right of this level, in colonial times, 
stood the homesteads of the Johnstons, the Wests, and Emersons, prominent Virginia 
families. Some piles of bricks and stones and wasting springs are all that are left to 
tell of them now. 




The arm of the river which passes near to the Dyke station lends attractions to the 
surrounding landscape, and its shaded nnoksin the sultry days of summer offer pleasant 
retreats to the dwellers of the neighboring cities. From the Dyke the road rises by a 
slight deflection to the right through lands once a part of the Hollin Hail plantation 
of two thousand acres belonging to George Mason of Gunston. The site of the old 
Mansion as pretentious as that of Gunston, is reached by a road from Belmont Station. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 27 

It is one mile distant. A quaint, long, rambling structure known in the neighborhood 
as the Spinning House, still stands. In it in generations gone was done all the spin- 
ning and weaving for the many occupants of the great plantation. This plantation ad- 
joined that of Mount Vernon between which was a boundary line of "double ditching." 
It was a part of a large scope of land of seven thousand acres patented by George Ma- 
son before the founding of Alexandria. Thomson Mason, a son of George the patriot, 
and author of the Bill of Rights and Constitution of Virginia, built and resided in the 
mansion after the close of the revolution. The foundation of the walls may still be 
traced with exactness, showing the building to have been large and spacious; and the 
surrounding grounds indicate well arranged lawns, terraces and approaches in keeping 
with a pretentious manorial dwelling. It was destroyed by fire about 1824. 

The situation had been well chosen for a home. It was high and airy and command- 
ed a charming landscape of forests and hills and stretches of miles in extent ; and 
copious springs gushed near by, from the hill slopes for thirsting man and beast — 
springs which still fiovv as full and perennially as when the bond folks "toted" their 
crystal measures in the primal days. He named the homestead Hollin Hall after an 
old country seat of some of the Mason family in England. Gunston Hall where George 
Mason lived was ten miles down the river. 

Ere the lands of this estate had been impoverished by that continuous system of slave 
culture which demanded of them everything and returned to them nothing, they pro- 
duced large crops of tobacco, grain, wool and hemp. In the spinning house this wool 
and hemp was spun and woven into fine and coarse fabrics for the household needs 
and the hands of the plantation. The spinning wheel and the loom were kept going 
with little intermission through the whole year, for there was quite an army of the 
work people to clothe. Very near to the mansion along the valley on the east side 
coursed the old Colonial road, now obliterated, which branched from the King's High- 
way heretofore described, near to "Gum Springs" and made then a continuous way 
for the southern travel even so far down as Savannah, until after the revolution, over 
the Potomac by Clifton Ferry and on to Philadelphia. The turnpike which now runs 
by the mansion site-on the west side was not laid until after 1850. 

Like his father George, of Gunston, Thomson Mason was an earnest patriot and was 
prominent in the decisive measures which precipitated the opposition to British op- 
pression. He had signed the Virginia protest against the injustice of the Stamp Act, 
and when the war resulted he joined the army under his neighbor Washington and 
testified as a brave soldier, his sincerity in the colonial cause. In June, 1781, his fatiher 
writing to his brother George says of him, "your brother Thomson has lately returne'd 
from a tour of military duty upon the James river. He commanded a force in a close 
action, with coolness and intrepidity." 

Belmont Station is on the highlands. Here the river flows close by, broadened by 
the confluence of the Broad Creek estuary on the Maryland side. This estuary in i 707 
was declared a port of entry for "all ships of commerce" and at its head was then laid 
out a town which for many years was a busy shipping place for the immense tobacco 
products of the neighboring plantations. An Episcopal Church was established there 
in 1694 in which building, service is still held. 

Beyond Belmont station a few hundred paces is the line of survey marking the upper 
boundary of the "Old Mount Vernon Estate" of eight thousand acres, which in Wash- 
ington's" time was divided into five main farms or plantations, and designated respect- 
ively. River, Dogue Run, Mansion House, Union, and Muddy Hole farms. River 
farm, which the railway strikes first, and formerly known as Clifton's Neck, was pur- 
chased in 1760 for the sum of three dollars per acre. It consisted of two thousand 
acits, but has been since divided and subdivided like all the other farms into smaller 
tracts, which are occupied by settlers chiefly from the Northern States of New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, New York and elsewhere, who have made many improvements upon 
them by clearing up the grounds, enriching the soil, planting orchards, and construct- 
ing fencing and comfortable dwellings. The surface of these highlands is gently un- 
dulating, and consists of a great -diversity of soils, which are remarkably easy of tillage 



28 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



and very susceptible of a high and profitable fertilization, and are particularly adapted 
to the production of all kinds of farm staples, fruits, and garden vegetables needed by 
the adjacent cities. The divisions lying immediately along the river afford situations 
for homes of surpassing beauty ; and while they are proverbially healthy, and are abund- 
antly supplied with perennial springs of pure soft water, for every domestic require- 
ment; the railway makes them suburban by giving thsm quick and easy transit to and 
from the National Capital at all times of the year. 




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A short distance from Wellington Station to the leit and in full view, stands on the 
river-bank the old Wellington House built by William Clifton previous to i 760. It 
was occupied by Col. Tobias Lear, who for nearly fourteen years was private and mili- 
tary secretary to the general, and private tutor to his adopted children, George W. 
Park Custis, and his sister Nelly, and who was in 1805 United States Commissioner to 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 29 

treat with the hostile powers of the Barbary States at the time of the memorable expedition 
of General Eaton. By a provision of Washington's will he was to be tenant of the 
house and premises rent free until his death. This was in consideration of his great 
services to him, especially during his presidency. He died in 1816. Afterwards, the 
farm was occupied by two generations ot the Washington family, Charles A., a grand- 
nephew, being the last, until 1859. Charles was a genial, jolly fellow, but not so well 
up in the arts of practical faming as his illustrious uncle. On one occasion, he went 
into town to have some ploughshares sharpened which were urgently needed to make 
ready his grounds for wheat sowing, but falling in with some old cronies he was in- 
duced to make a month's visit to the "Springs;" but it wasall the same to Uncle Toby 
and the rest of the waiting "hands," for they had a long holiday, though the wheat 
crop went by default. In farming he was an experimentalist, though always disas- 
trously. He read in the Country Gentleman of the great profits of barley growing, and 
so resolved to try his hand also. One morning in spring, when the robin and blue bird 
were piping their jubilant songs, he had his "gang" ploughing a ten acre field. The 
barley was sown, and the harvest time came, and the grain was flailed out and loaded 
on a two- horse team for the Alexandria market. The hopeful proprietor mounted his 
saddle horse and went up, in advance, to dispose of his crop. But barley was an un- 
known quantity he found, on arriving at the store of his merchants ; but later, however 
he succeeded in bartering his grains to a brewer for a barrel of beer, which he sent 
home to his cellar. The tidings of the transaction soon spread among his many jolly 
town companions, and, slipping down the river by boat after nightfall to the Welling- 
ton House, they succeeded before morning in drinking up the entire crop of barley. 

From Arcturus, the next station beyond, a smooth, winding avenue leads down a 
few hundred paces to Andalusia, one of the many desirable places on the old Estate 
which the railway has made readily accessible to those who are in quest of situations for 
charming suburban homes. This point in our journey is best described in the sub- 
joined story of A Summer Outing. 

THE STORY OF AN OUTING AT ANDALUSIA, VA. 

Twelve miles from the National Capital, down the Potomac, on the Virginia shore, 
is a spot whose memories will be like holy benedictions to me through all the coming 
years of my life. I was needing rest, and there I found it in a sweet and quiet seclu- 
sion such as I never enjoyed before, -^a rest which had no circumstances to disturb nor 
shadow to mar. 

This place Elysian is reached by the Mount Vernon Electric Railway. From Arc- 
turus Station, midway between Alexandria and the home of Washington, you wind by 
a hard, smooth avenue along green fields, and through orchards laden with ripe and 
ripening fruitage, till you are in the shadows of a hundred stately oaks and walnuts, 
many of them of a century's growth. Here in the midst of these leafy sentinels is a 
home which in all its surroundings and influences, more nearly than any other, fills up 
the measure of my ideal dreamings. 

Andalusia is distant from the travelled highways, and before the coming of the elec- 
tric car was a terra incognita, with rarely a visitor, save of the surrounding neighborhood 
to invade its quiet borders. The passengers from the deck of the passing steamer de- 
scried it in the distance, showing like a gem in its setting of river and cool enbower- 
ing trees, but it was only a glimpse of hidden beauties to be remembered and cherished 
or forgotten. Now, by rapid and easy transit many pilgrims find their way thither, 
although it is but a private home. Little picnic parties from the cities adjacent, through 
the courtesy of the proprietor, hie there through the summer days to spread their repasts 
under the shadowing boughs, and make .merry on the inviting green sward. Ar ists 
come to sketch the delightful and varied views of its environs, the cycler to wheel over 
the smooth avenues, the angler to throw his line into the still river nooks, and the 
wearied, like myself, to seek the balm of rest. 

In this ideal home by the Potomac I found a welcome and a hospitality which re- 



30 



SOME OLD HISTOKIC LANDMARKS 



called the many stories I had read, of entertainments in Virginia homes of the olden 
time. For tired nature there was no lack of sweet restorers. There were libraries, 
inviting to every range and department of knowledge. There was music to soothe 
and harmonize, pictures, and cabinets of curios to amuse, and a wilderness of flowers 
to please the eye. 

All too swiftly passed the lime, as I fondly tarried in the midst of so many allurements 
from the dull and perplexing routine of business in the city. Hours of the bright mid- 
summer days I watched from the vine-hung verandas of the "Old Mansion," the broad 




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river's expanse before me, vi-ith its flitting shadows, its sails, and passing steamers. 
Sometimes it was a leisurely stroll along the pebbly shore, or boating in the still waters 
that beguiled me, and sometimes it was straying over the site of the old Indian town of 
Asasomeck, looking for arrow heads, javelin points, fragments of pottery, and other re- 
mains of the ancient dwellers. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



81 



One serene evening, as the parting rays of the setting sun were fading beyond the 
hills I joined a boating party for an excursion to the opposite shores of "Maryland, 
my Maryland." A delightful ride over a stretch of two miles of the still waters 
brought us to the head of "Broad Bay," where we landed, and then walked in the 
twilight a short distance up the valley to an ancient chapel, erected in the time when 
all the surrounding region was a part of the realms which owned the rule and sway of 
the king of "Old England." Within the walls of this chapel, our Washington, Lord 




Fairfax, and many other noted men of that time were wont to worship. Jvlany ge-nera- 
tions of its congregations are lying under the crumbling stones of the briar grown 
graveyard, and as I pondered wher-e so often had been read that last solemn ritual of 
"dust to dust," many a vision tiitted before me, of happy bridals and solemn fun^erai 
trains of the "dead past" ot the long ago. 

As w€ turned in pensive mood from the sacred place., the full moon was up and beam- 



cVI SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

ing brightly on the still waters of the grand old river to light us back on our homeward 
way. 

The sketch of my outing would be incomplete, if I failed to mention a sail down the 
river to Fort Washington and also a ride over the electric road to Mount Vernon. 
Reader, did you ever climb to the heights of the old fort? If not it is worth a jour- 
ney to do so. Go there on some fair midsummer day, and survey from its vine covered 
battlements the broad and varied expanse outlying before them. In that expanse the 




eye may trace out the National Capital, with its towering dorne and obelisk, sitting 
superl)ly enthroned in the mist and dimness of the far away liills to tlie nortli, and the 
grand old river flowing down in its seaward course through its setting of green slopes 
and plains and wooded crests, gives to all the view a charm and beauty not often sur- 
passed. 

A visit to the home and tomb of the immortal chieftain is surely an event to linger 
long in the memory of every patriot. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



But I am reaching the limits of the tyjjos, and so must not tarry, otherwise the story 
of my outing with its round of varied pleasures and enjoyments would be a long one. 
To the friends who had kindly bidden and welcomed me to their hospitalities I said 
goodby, and with many regrets at parting, turned homeward from the long to be re- 
membered scenes of Andalusia. 



O, homestead by the river side 
When rains of life are faHing, 

I'll go in fancy to thy fold 
, And hear the robin calling 

His sleepy mate at early dawn ; 
I'll watch the river flowing 



And see the sway of trees and flowers 
As winds round them are blowing, 

And tho' throujjh splendid castles 
In foreign lands I'll roam, 

O, may my heart be pure and true, 
As in the dear old home. 



From Andalusia to Mount Vernon the distance is three miles, with the intervening 
stations of Herbert's Spring, Snowden's, Hunter's and Riverside Park at Little Hunt- 
ing Creek, which make the occupants of numerous adjacent farms conveniently accessi- 
ble to this important line of travel. The creek divides the original River Farm of 
Washington's map from the Mansion House Farm, and one mile beyond, the road ter- 
minates at the gates of the Mount Vernon Mansion. 

BROAD CREEK-OLD CHURCH AND OLD HOUSES. 

Four miles below Alexandria, on the Maryland shore, and opposite to Andalusia, on 
the Virginia side, is the estuary or bay of Broad Creek. There Washington often went, 
as he tells us in his diary, with his friend and neighbor, Diggs, of Warburton Manor, 
to throw his line for the finny denizens of the still waters. At the head of this bay, where 
now only the light-draught scow boat can ascend the silt-filled channel, large schooners 
used to lie at their moorings and load with cargoes of tobacco, wheat, and corn for the 
foreign pons. It was a busy neighborhood then, when the odd and ancient looking 
houses, which have stood through the changes of one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
years were comparatively new, and the surrounding lands were fertile and produced 
abundantly all kinds of farm products. 




ST. JOHN S CHURCH. BROAD CREEK, MD. 

over 200 years old. 

There is much in this isolated locality to interest the curious delver into the scenes 
and circumstances of the olden time. The weather-beaten tenements, so dilapidated 
and forlorn in appearance ; the impoverished fields and the forsaken landing-place 
with never a freight nor cargo to be loaded or discharged, will murmur to him, as he 
thoughyuUy scans the desolation, in audible stories of how the generations of toilers 



34 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



came and went — how they fretted out life's fitful fever, and were at last gathered from 
their labor of successor failure to the densely populated burial-place of the settlements. 

The creek meanders down from the far uplands in bright rivulets, touching in its 
course the borders of many an old home whose mournful landmarks of falling tene- 
ment or blackened hearthstones or deserted springs are rnute but eloquent reminders 
of the long faded years when those now impoverished fields in their primitive fertility 
yielded to the tobacco and maize planters their fifty and a hundred fold. 

More than two hundred years ago an Episcopal church was organized here by the 
first dwellers. The parish was at first known as Piscataway, afterwards King George's, 
and the Church of St. John's. The first house of worship was of logs and built in 
1694, rebuilt with bricks in 1722, and enlarged to its present dimensions in i 763, John 
Addison, William Hatton, William Hutchinson, William Tannhil), John Emmet, and 
John Smallwell were of its first vestry, and Rev. George Tubman its first rector. This 
church antedates all other Episcopal churches of the Potomac region of Maryland. 
The leading spirit in the organization of this church was Col. John Addison a member 
of the Governor's council and an uncle of the celebrated Joseph Addison. 

The burial place of the old kirk is densely peopled with the dead of departed congre- 
gations. Over most of the graves is a wilderness of tangled vines. Many of the stones 
are levelled and sunken nearly out of sight, with inscriptions worn and hard to deciph- 
er. Hundreds of graves have no stones at all, presumably of the earliest burials. A 
broad marble slab lies over the remains of Enoch Lyells, killed in a duel, August 7, 
1805, with the following inscription ; 

"Go, our deal- son, obey the call of Heaven ; Yet, oh, what pen can paint the parents' woe ? 

Thy sins were few — we trust they are forgiven. God only can punish ihe hand that <^ave the blow." 




OLD HOUSE AT BROAD CREEK, MD. 
200 years old. 

The quarrel of the duelist h td its ongin in offensive reimrks made at a ball in the 
village of Piscataway, and the duel took place at Johnson's ^prirg, on the Virginia 
sliore. The young man who was killed and who liad made the remarks was averse to 
the encounter, but was goaded on to his death by his father and mother. His antag- 
onist was named Bowie, who afterwards fled to the new settlement of the southwest. 
To him belongs the unenviable reputation of originating the bowie knife. 

The hip-roofed house over two hundred years old still remains on the shore of Broad 
Creek vviiere the wounded man was carried by his friends to die. It stands lonely and 
ghost like, scarred and blackened by the mutations of time, a grim memorial not only 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 35 

of the duel, but of the more prosperous days of the locality, when square rigged vessels 
even, sailed from the now lonely and desolate place with cargoes of tobacco and other 
valuable freight of a fertile and productive region. 

Long after the event of the duel the old house was to all the negro population an ob- 
ject of aversion ; and even to the present time stories handed down through the gen- 
erations, are told of strange lights which were seen flitting and hovering over the local- 
ity, on dark and dismal nights. These lights if seen as averred, may not have been 
due entirely to the distorted imagination of the ignorant negroes but as well to the 
phosphorescent exhalations from the decaying matter of the surrounding marshes. 

THE DOGUE IN DIANS-ASSAOM ECK. 

AljiS for them ! their day is o'er, The plough is on their hunting-grounds. 

Their fires are out from shore to shore ; The pale man's axe rings thro' their wo'ods, 

No more for them the wild deer bounds,— The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods. ' 

On the shores of the Mount Vernon estate, and far inland to the west, once roamed 
a numerous tribe of aborigines of the Algonquin race whose prowess was acknowledged 
and feared by all the surrounding tribes. The chief settlement or village of "Assao- 
meck, according to the investigations of Professor Holmes, of the National Ethno- 
logical Bureau, occupied the site now known as Andalusia, four miles below Alexan- 
dria. The great number of stone axes, javelin and arrow points, and fragments of 
pottery which have been turned up there by the plough, sufficiently attest the fact. 

Here, in 1608, that fearless explorer and doughty old soldier. Captain John Smith, 
on his way up the Potomac to beyond the present site of the National Capital, stopped 
to hold parley with the reigning chief, and smoke the pipe of peace and friendship. 
Their settlement was the scene of a cruel and unsparing massacre by a force of aveng- 
ing colonists during the Bacon rebellion of 1676. Where their cabins clustered along 
the river shore in the primeval days, the suburban homes of Andalusia now rise up to 
greet the eye of the passer. 

FORT WASHINGTON, AND THE MOUTH OF THE PISCATAWAY-LEONARD 
CALVERTWITH HIS VANGUARDOF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

Seven miles below Alexandria, on the commanding heights of the old manorial es- 
tate of "Warburton," in Maryland, are the frowning battlements of Fort Washmgton. 
They help to give picturesqueness to the grand landscape of which they are a part, 
and they represent an expenditure of many hundred thousands of the public treasury, 
and many years of hard toil of long-vanished builders. But that is all. For the de- 
fence of the National Capital, they are practically useless against the new methods of 
naval attack. In 1814, when the British fleet came up the Potomac, the garrison then 
occupying the works, abandoned them and allowed the enemy to proceed to Alexan- 
dria and plunder the city without molestation. At the foot of the heights, just under 
the walls where the waters of the Piscataway and the Potomac unite, came, in i6''4. 
Governor Leonard Calvert with two hundred followers, most of them Roman 
Catholic gentlemen and their servants, to establish, under the provisions of a royal 
cha.-ter to his brother, Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore), a settlement of the new region 
of Maryland, as yet untenanted save by roving aborigines. He anchored his vessels, 
the "Dove" and a small pinnace, proclaimed the catholic faith, raised the standard of 
Old England and proceeded to negotiate with the Indians, who assembled on the shore 
to the number of five hundred. The chieftain of the tribe would neither bid him go 
nor stay, "He might use his own discretion." It did not seem safe for the English 
to plant their first settlement in the wilderness so high up the river, vvhereupon Calvert 
descended the stream, examining in his barge the creeks and estuaries near the Chesa- 
peake. He entered the river now called St. Mary's and which he named St. George's, 
and "about four leagues from its junction with the Potomac" he anchored at the Indian 
town of Yoacomoco. To Calvert the spot seemed convenient for a plantation. Mut- 
ual promises of friendship were made between the English and the natives, and upon 
the twenty-seventh day of March, 1634, the Catholics took quiet possession of the 
place, and religious liberty obtained a home — its only home in the wide world — at the 



36 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's. Very soon after this time all the 
region around the Piscataway river was explored by the Calvert colonists ; and the 
Jesuit Missionaries who had come over with the proprietor established their missions 
from St. Mary's up to the Anacostia river. The parent mission under the direction of 
Father White was located at Piscataway. Great hopes were entertained by them of 
the evangelization of the Indians. Schools were instituted among them. A printing 
press, the first in all the colonies south of Massachusetts Bay was set up at Piscataway 




and catechisms and portions of the gospels were printed in the Indian tongue, some 
copies of which v/ere brought to light only a few years ago in the library of the Vatican 
in Rome. For more tha'n two hundred years they had lain there forgotten in the gath- 
ered dust with the reports, the fathers had sent of their missions in those early times 
along the wild shores of the Potomac. 

Numbers of the Indians we are told by the chroniclers embraced the new faith and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 37 

were baptized, among them King Chilomachen, his Queen, children and attendants. 
Of these self sacrificing missionaries, one of their faith has said: -'Their pathways 
were through the wilderness and their first chapels were the wigwams of the savages. 
They assisted by pious rites in laying the foundations of a state. They kindled the 
torch of civilization in the new found lands. They gave consolation to the grief 
stricken pilgrim. They taught the religion of Christ to the sons of the forest. The 
history of Maryland presents no better, no purer, no more sublime lesson than the story 
of the toils of her first missionaries." 

WHEN KING GEORGE 2ND. OF ENGLAND RU LED VI RGI N I A. 

CLIFTON FERRY. JOHNSOn's SPRING. DUELLING GROUND. 

"As ancient was this hostelry When folks lived in a grander way 

As any in the land may be, With ampler hospitality." 

Built in the Old Colonial day * * * * 

By 1745 vvith the exit of the aboriginal inhabitants from the tide water regions of 
Virginia, the wave of civilization had advanced up the Potomac even to the slopes of 
the Blue Ridge. In that year was passed by the General Assembly an act establishing 
a public ferry from Clifton Neck, now the river farm of the Mount Vernon estate, to 
the Maryland shore. Capacious boats were provided for the ferriage of vehicles of every 
description as well as for pedestrians, horses and cattle, and were manned by sturdy 
negro oarsmen ; and but a few minutes were required by them to cross the stream. By 
this ferry went all the travel by land through the colonies between New York and 
Georgia. The rates of ferriage were "for a man or horse one shilling, for every coach, 
chariot or wagon and the driver thereof six shillings. For every cart or four wheeled 
chaise and the driver thereof four shillings. For every two wheeled chaise or chair 
two shillings." 

Archdeacon Burnaby in his travels through the middle settlements of America in 
1760 tells us he crossed the Potomac at this point going northward by Upper Marlboro 
and Annapolis. 

The Old Ferry House as shown in the engraving stood on the brow of the hill about 
fifty yards from the tide level. It fell to ruins fifty years ago. It was a noted place of 
entertainment on the great highway. The traveller always found under its roof an 
abundance of good fare ; for the river was stocked with the finest fish and the forests 
around abounded with wild game ; and there was no stint of apple brandy, cider and 
beer, old Jamaica and other beverages for all who were inclined in that direction, and 
most folks were so disposed in those primitive times. 

Not far from the doorway of the hostelry gushed the spring calK'd by the Indians, 
the "Great Fountain." Its waters clear and cold, still pour out from the hill side un- 
abated from year to year, just as they did in colonial times. Their source doubtless is 
among the distant rocks of the Blue Ridge. Perhaps the first white man who ever 
drank of them was Captain John Smith when he ventured up the Potomac in 1608. 
And no wonder that he told in his journal of the "sweet waters", with which the new 
region abounded. 

This locality was in the years far back a noted resort for duellists. The last duel 
was fought in 1805 as elsewhere noted in these pages. Later on, it was a favorite place 
for summer social gatherings of every description. Fourth ot July parties met there 
from the two cities and celebrated Independence Day ; and Washington tells us in his 
diary that he met his neighbors there at barbecues and other social and political 
gatherings. 

No highway in all the land had more interesting historical associations than this by 
the Old Ferry. 

No road was used more frequently by Washington. He always took it when going 
to his river farm and 10 the races at Annapolis. It was the road he travelled when 
going to the first Continental Congress. 



38 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

In his diary for Aug. 30th, 1774, he says "Col. Pendleton, Mr. Henry and Col. 
Mason came to my house and remained all night." "Aug. 31, these gentlemen dined" 
here, after which Col. Pendleton, Mr. Henry and myself set out on our journey for 
Philadelphia." They crossed the Potomac by Clifton ferry five miles below Alexan- 
dria into Prince George county, Maryland and reached Upper Marlboro for supper and 
lodging. "Sept. ist, breakfasted at Queen Ann's ten miles further and dined at Annap- 
olis. Crossed the head of the Bay to Rock Hall in Kent county by the packet ferry. 
Here we supped and lodged. Sept. 2nd, dined at Rock Hall and thirteen miles 
further on in the journey supped and lodged at Newtown on Chester river." "Sept. 
3rd, breakfasted at Downs (now Galena) sixteen miles beyond. Dined at Buck tavern 
ten miles further. Lodged at New Castle eighteen miles. Breakfasted at Christina 
Ferry eight miles. Dined at Chester twelve miles. Fifteen miles beyond, after sup- 
ping at the New Tavern in Philadelphia lodged at Dr. Shippens, in all one hundred 
and fifty-one miles in five days." 




CLIFTON FERRY. 

Down this highway in 1781 came the forces of General Green going to the Carnli- 
nas, and the armies of Washington, Lafayette, and AVayne going to Yorktown. By 
"Washington's orders at the time the local militia was summoned to repair all the ways 
over which the troops, the beef cattle, the baggage wagons and artillery were to pass 
through the several counties of Virginia ; and the planters all along were requested by 
him as a particular mark of respect to assist the ofificers from point to point in their 
carriages. 

The National Capital was then but a straggling settlement with its few buildings in 
the midst of forests and swamps, with difficult approaches to it from every side. The 
Long Bridge had not been built and the only ferry to the Virginia Shore was that to 
Analostan Island, from Georgetown. 

The only traces of this highway in its course through the Mount Vernon estate may 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



39 



be seen in the clump of trees on the electric railway at Arctnrus Station, as shown in 
the accompanying engraving. Clifton Ferry was discontinued after iSoS. 

The Old Ferry House as shown in the engraving stood on the brow of the hill about 
fifty yards from tide level. Fifty years ago it fell to ruins. 

"With weather stains upon its wall And creaking and uneven floors 

And stairways worn and crazy doors, And chimneys huge and tiled and tall." 




THE OLD ROAD. 



But a remnant left of the old highway, 

When George of England held royal sway — 
Only a hollow, worn deep in the hill — 

But listen well — it has tales to tell 
Of the tide of travel that over it roU'd 

For a hundred years in the days of qld. 
Lift ye the veil, and the throngs shall pass 

Before your vision a^ in a glass. 
You will hear the creak of the cumb'rous wain ; 

Vou will hear the teamster's shouts again. 
Before you will pass on its tedious way 

The stage and four of the ancient day. 
Anon, you will see the planter ride 

With liveried coachman at his side — 
The gangs of toilers will come and go 

From their endless tasks of joy or woe. 
The steps of armies you will hear 

And their bugles will greet you loud and clear- 



Their drum's wild beat you will hear as well 

Echoing afar through the wooded dell — 
They are veterans tried and service worn 

With garments faded and rent and torn ; 
They have fought at Trenton and Lexington — 

Tliough fields they have lost, they have glory won, 
And their good flintlocks and powder dry 

They are keeping well tor the by and by. 
Brave continentalers — tliey are marching down 

For the final fray at Old Yorktown ! 
M.irk ye the leaders in buff and blue — 

Washington and (Ireene and "mad W^iyne" too ; 
And Lafayette and Chasieleux 

And the dashing count of Rochambenu, 
Our friendly allies from France afar 

Who have come to turn the tide of war. 
Ihe-e are the visions which you may see 

If you lift the veil by the old highway. 



Fort Washington and Fort Hunt opposite to it on the Virginia shore command the 
aj)proach by water to the National Capital and as a result of several years of constant 
t\-ork upon them by the Government are now fully equijiped for defence. When the 
great avenue in contemplation, to connect Arlington and Memorial Bridge with Mounr 
Vertion shall be constructed, it will doubtless pass very near to Fort Hunt and so be 
come a military as well as a public highway down from the National C.ipital. 

Little Htmting Oeek which the road crosses at Riverside Park is the natural and 
lower boundary of Washington's Riv'er Farm of 2000 acres just travelled over, and 
which he purchased of William Clifton in 1767. On the south side of the creek lies 
the other large farms of the Old Mount Vernon estate known as the Mansion House 
farm, Union farm, Dogue Run farm and Muddy Hole farm, containing in the aggre- 



40 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

gate, 6000 acres. The part of the estate on which the home is situated was included 
in a royal grant of 5000 acres made by Gov. Thomas, Lord Culpeper, in 1670 to 
Lieut. Col. John Washington and his associate in maritime adventure, Nicholas 
Spencer, in consideration of their services to the Virginia colony for bringing to its 
new lands from England one hundred immigrants or settlers. This Coh John Wash- 
ington was a great grandfather of General George Washington whose father Augustine 
purchased of the Spencer heirs their right in the original grant. By purchases from 
time to time previous to the Revolutionary war the General added one thousand acres 
more to the already large domain until its boundaries embraced a total of Sooo acres 
as held at the time of his death in i 799. 

There is hardly a spot over this vast extent of land which has not known of the pres- 
ence of this great rural proprietor. There is not a valley, nor a hill, nor rivulet, nor 
spring that has not associations of him. He laid all its roads, divided all the different 
plantation tracts and directed in person all the improvements which went on from 
year to year over the estate. 

Little Hunting Creek in Washington's time was bordered by a dense growth of forest 
trees, which almost entirely shadowed its waters; and at all seasons of the year, wild 
fowl, ducks, geese and swan gathered there in great numbers, affording for the General 
and his visiting friends ample opportunities for shooting which were as jealously guard- 
ed from invading poachers as those of any game reservation in Old England ; and the 
same protection was given to the game animals which wandered the wooded domains 
of the estate. 

Augustine Washington, father of George, laid the first foundation of the Mount Ver- 
non Mansion just previous to 1736. He erected then only the middle portion of the 
building as we now see it in its more pretentious entirety, with its commanding front, 
its broad veranda, its belfry and its numerous apartments. ' The first structure was 
plain and simple, but with its four rooms it was then deemed an ample dwelling place, 
and no important additions were made by the new proprietor until after his marriage 
which occurred in 1759. Between that time and the year 1786 he had fashioned the 
Mansion into very much the form and appearance which it presents to ns today. His 
guests were constantly increasing frr>m at home and abroad and he needed more roorn 
and style for their entertainment. He obtained from England workmen and materials 
and by the close of 17S5 had completed his improvements in which he was his own 
architect, drawing every plan and specification with his own hand. The interior of 
the old house remained to a great extent unchanged, but wings were added and the ex- 
terior remodeled, so that its appearance today is very much the same as when com- 
pleted then. 

The Mansion is built of wood in imitation of cut stone, mainly after the style of a 
French Chatteau of the time of Louis fourteenth, is ninety-six feet in length by thirty- 
two in width, of two stories and a finished attic, with dormer windows surmounted by 
a graceful cupola which commands a fine view of the varied country surrounding it. 
Along the entire front, facing the river and Fort Washington is a wide veranda sup- 
ported by high square pillars and paved with a tesselated pavement of stones brought 
from White Haven, England, in 1785. The ground floor contains six rooms (there 
were originally but fourj with the old spacious hall in the centre of the building, ex- 
tending through it from east to west, and the stairway. On the south side of the hall 
is the parlor, library and breakfast room, from which last a narrow staircase ascends to 
the private study on the second floor; on the north side a music room, parlor, and 
dancing-room, in which when there was much comjiany the guests were sometimes enter- 
tained at table. The principal feature of this room is the large mantelpiece, wrought 
in Italy, of statuary and Sienite marbles, exquisitely carved in every part, bearing in 
relief, scenes in agricultural life. The interiors of the new rooms were finished to cor- 
respond with the old ones. At the same time were built, near the mansion on either 
side, a substantial kitchen and laundry, connected with it by collonades. These, with 
other outlying buildings then erected, all remain, with the exception of an extensive 
conservatory. Washington, thus occupied with the development of his estate, was 
meanwhile unconsciously exercising a powerful influence on national affairs. He was 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



41 



obliged to maintain an extensive correspondence, and the opinions and counsels given 
in his letters were widely effective. No longer the soldier, he was now becoming the 
statesman. 

Exact plans and dimensions of the Mansion have been taken and will be preserved 
for use in case of destruction by fire. 




o 



§5 



GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS HOME. 



Tell us attain the story 

Our sires and grnndsires told ; 



We love to hear it often, 
'Tis ever new. tho' old. 



On the fourteenth day of December, 1799, George Washington, the successful soldier 
and leader, the true patriot, the wise statesman, the estimable private citizen, the public 
benefactor and friend of all mankind, passed peacefully from earth, in his quiet home 
at Mount Vernon, to the inheritance of the rich rewards awaiting a life of exceeding 
great usefulness and honor. Since the occurrence of that event which brought grief 



42 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

and sorrow to the infant nation he had so faithfully labored to direct and establish, 
only one hundred years have elapsed, hardly five generations of his posterity; and a 
few of late were still remaining among us who were then children. Yet, such was the 
sublime character and great worth of the revered chief, and such have been the grand 
results to the world of his heroic deeds and unselfish sacrifices, that in our grateful 
remembrance and almost pious veneration of him, the vista of time through which 
we look back in contemplation of his life and public services seems to us more like one 
of long centuries than that of the few scores of solemn anniversaries which have been 
recorded. As this vista lengthens and grows dimmer with the passing away of each 
succeeding year, we delight more and more to recount the story of his childhood and 
early training, of his military services and exploits, of his subsequent civil career, and, 
finally, of his retired life as a farmer on his broad Virginia estate, where, in the peace- 
ful tranquility of a mind untroubled by vain ambitions or harrassing regrets, he lived 
the happiest days of his eventful life. 

Mount Vernon, the home and tomb, will ever continue the grand focal point to 
which the generations of our republic will fondly turn in their love and admiration for 
the great chief. Then, shall we not keep on telling the "old, old story?" — the story 
which, though so often relocated, will be forever new, and will forever charm and 
please, — the one which poets shall sing and orators proclaim — the one which sires and 
grandsires shall relate to the eager ears of little children on their knees, which shall 
cross every sea, and be heard in every land and in every clime. Let it be told, and 
again and again repeated, so that no event nor circumstance connected with the bril- 
liant career of the pater pntrhr shall remain unknown or forgotten. His life and the 
precious memories of its well shaped and rounded works are the common patrimony of 
all liberty loving peoples and will be kept fresh and perennial. 

LAWRENCE WASHINGTON- HALF BROTHER OF GEORGE. 

Lawrence Washington deserves more than the incidental notices which have been 
accorded to him in other chapters of this Hand-book. In our regard ior the merits 
and career of his distinguished brother, on whom too much praise cannot be bestowed, 
we are apt to lose sight of the noble and magnanimous spirit which was so instrumental 
in moulding and shaping that character which shines with such transcendant lustre in 
the galaxy of our Revolutionary heroes. Fifteen years older than his brother George, 
he at once in his orphanage filled the place of the correct fraternal exemplar and pa- 
ternal adviser. When Lawrence came up from the lower Potomac to the occupancy of 
the domains of twenty-five hundred acres "lying along and south of Little Hunting 
Creek," George accompanied him to his new home, established by his father Augus- 
tine a short time previously, and named in honor of his old commander, Mount Ver- 
non, until Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax needed him to assist his cousin Geo. William 
Fairfax in establishing with compass and chain the butts and bounds of his possessions 
in the Shenandoah Valley. 

Major Lawrence Washington was the second child and only surviving son of Augus- 
tine Washington, and his first wife Jane (Butler) Washington, and was born in West- 
moreland connty, Virginia, 1718. He was among the organizers of the "Ohio Com- 
pany" to explore the western country, encourage settlements, and conduct trade with 
the Indians. It was in his relations with this company that he won an enviable dis- 
tinction, as did his brother George after him, by avowing himself an advocate of re- 
ligious toleration at a time when the statutes of Virginia recognized but one religious 
faith. Never very strong physically, with the continued and increasing pressure of his 
public duties in the state council and the land company, his health gave way, and in 
I 75 I, accompanied by his brother George, he went for healing to the Island of Bar- 
badoes, but receiving no relief he returned to die at his Mount Vernon home, July, 1752. 
His marriage with Annie Fairfax had been blessed by four children, three of whom 
had died. His surviving child, Sarah, was still an infant, at the time of her father's 
death. After providing in his will for his wife, he left Mount Vernon to his daughter, 
but in the event of her death without heirs, it was to go to his "beloved brother 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



4P> 







From an original painting in possession of Mr. Lawrence Washington, By courtesy. 



44 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



George." This daughter died within a _, ear, and George inherited the Home" before 
lie was twenty one years of age. 

COL. JOHN WASHINGTON, OF CAVE CASTLE, ENGLAND. 

The political dissensions which convulsed the English people in the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, finally brought violent death to their king, ('harles the First, and 
established in the placeof their monarchical government, the [jrotectorate of Oliver Crom- 
well, As a result of the revolution, the prominent adherents of royalty found them- 
selves without occupation or favor under the new rule, and many of them left the 
country and sought asvlum in the newly-opened land "beyond the seas." Among 
these were Col. John Washington, the great grandfather of the Revolutionary General 
and first president of the United States, and his brother Lawrence who migrated from 
South Cave in the east riding of Yorkshire on the banks of the Humber river. They 
settled first in 1659 in the county of Westmoreland at Bridge's Creek. They had pas- 
sage over in a ship owned by Edward Prescott of which John (jreen was Captain. 
During the voyage a woman of the name of Elizabeth Richardson, a fanatical zealot in- 
curred the displeasure of some of the passengers on account of her insane rantings and 
singular behavior, and was hanged by them to the yard arm, under the accusation of 
])racticing the art of witchcraft. In her misfortune she appealed to the commiseration 
of Col. John who vainly interposed to save her. The wanton and lawless act was so 

revolting to his intelligence and kinder 
feelings that upon landing in the Chesa- 
peake, he reported the case to the au- 
thorities and had the owner and Cap- 
tain of the vessel held in bonds to appear 
for trial before the provincial court of 
St. Mary's. The trial, owing to the un- 
certainties and delays of those early times 
never took place. 

John Washington seems to have been 
a man of means es well as influence. 
He patented a large tract of land be- 
tween the Potomac and the Rappahan- 
nock, raised tobacco extensively and was 
elected a member of the House of Bur- 
gesses. His marriage to Ann Pope oc- 
CAVE CASTLE, ENGLAND. curred soon afier his arrival in the 

»y courtesy of Mr. Henry Dudley Teeter. colouy. Having a military inclination, 

he was appointed a colonel of the militia. In this capacity he became a con- 
spicuous actor in many of the tragic events of the Bacon rebellion during the year 
of 1665-6 which followed the harra.-sing retaliations of the Indians on the colonists 
for their depredations upon their domains of forest and stream. 

After the murder of the herdsman, Henn, in 1666, by the Dogue Indians, in Truro 
parish, near the Occoquan river, and the prompt pursuit of the murderers by the 
mounted rangers of the county of Stafford to their town of Assaomeck twenty miles up 
the Potomac, where they were overtaken and massacred at the doors of their wigwams, 
all the other tribes on both sides of the river, up and down, took refuge with the Fiscata- 
ways, a powerful tribe dwelling on the heights now occupied by the battlements of Fort 
Washington ; and here in alliance they proceeded to fortify themselves by embank- 
ments, ditches and palisades against the advance of the colonists. To dislodye this 
force of savages, two thousand troops of the Maryland and Virginia militia were speedily 
raised and placed under the command of Col. John Washington, who had under him 
M;iiors Nl.son, Brent and other military notables of the time. After a protracted siege 
of SIX weeks the small number of the besieged who had escaped bullets and starvation, 
capitulated to their assailants. The destruction was complete and vengeance was 
satisfied. 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 45 

Three years before this siege Col. John as elsewhere related had been engaged with 
Nicholas Spencer in bringing into the province one hundred immigrants, for which 
they obtained a royal patent for 5000 acres now included within the bounds of Mount 
Vernon. 

At the time of this patent, Stafford was the uppermost county, stretching intermin- 
ably beyond the Alieghanies and to the Mississippi valley. Prince William and Fair- 
fax were not set off until nearly fifty years afterward. The town of "Assaomeck" was 
about four miles below Great Hunting Creek on that division of the Mount Vernon 
"river farm" now known as Andalusia. It was just opposite to Broad Creek in Mary- 
land. 

Col. John died in 1677. He was first married in England. His wife and two 
children came with him to Virginia, but the three died soon after arriving. As else- 
where noted his second wife was 'Ann Pope of Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county. 
By this alliance he had children — first Lawrence, born i66r, who in 1690 was married 
to Mildred Warner, of Gloucester Co., Va. His child Augustine was born at Bridge's 
Creek 1694. He was twice married, first April 20, 17 15, to Jane Butler, daughter of 
Caleb Butler of Westmoreland county, by whom he had four children of whom only 
Lawrence survived to manhood, born 1718 died in 1752 at his home at Mount Ver- 
non. Augustine born 1720, died young. Their mother died in 1728 and was buried 
in the family vault. Augustine was again married to Mary Ball "the rose of Epping 
Forest" and daughter ot Joseph Ball of Lancaster county, Va. By her he had six 
children, namely, George, born at Wakefield, February 22, 1732 — died at Mount Ver- 
non December 14, 1799; Betty born at Wakefield June 20, 1733 — died March 1799; 
Samuel born at Wakefield, November 15,1734 — died 17S1; John Augustine, born 
doubtless at Epsewasson, Fairfax county, Va., January 13, 1756 — died 1762 ; Charles 
born doubtless at same place, May 2,1738 — died 1799; Mildred born at Wakefield, 
June 21, 1739 — died 1740. Mary the mother died at Fredericksburg, August 25, 1789 
at the age ot 82. Betty Washington was married to Col. Fielding Lewis. Their son 
Lawrence was married to Eleanor (Nellie) Parke Custis. 

SUMMARY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

"What is a name ; As we wreathe or build it ; And the birth dawns beacon adown the ages 

Stucco or granite, bastile or fane ; With a lurid fla.'^h or a blaze sublime. 

And the ste;n years crumble or freshly gild it As to meaner goals or diviner stages. 

As it grows in honor or reaps disdain. It exemplars Man through the storms of time." 

George Washington, whether as a private citizen mingling with his neighbors and 
friends in a social or business capacity, or whether as a dignified actor and director in 
the public and national affairs of his country, is one of the very few men in the records 
of history who have successfully and triumphantly withstood' the test and scrutiny of 
the world's adverse criticism. He stands out on the shifting scenes of the world's 
annals as a grandly imposing and unique personage, meriting and commanding as well, 
the veneration of every observer, no matter of what country or nationality — and the 
citizens of the country he loved and defended, in theii enthusiasm and gratitude for 
his brilliant public services, love to contemplate him as a personage divinely ordained 
and appointed to open the way, not only for civil and religious liberty in America,. but 
everywhere among the oppressed of humanity. 

He left the quietude and enjoyments of a rural life when great political emergencies 
needed a capable advisor, actor and leader whose sentiments were known to be unre- 
servedly opposed to royal impositions and exactions and in favor of home rule and 
independence; and stepping forth on the scene of action was hailed with acclamation 
as the man eminently (jualified for the momentous and responsible duties before him. 
By his prompt and patriotic response to a common call he won the popular confidence 
and esteem, and by his wise and prudent counsels many discordant elements were 
harmonized and brought into subjection to the cause he had espoused. ,But his new. 
sphere of action was to be amid perplexities and trials which might have discouraged 
many a brave commander. His mission was to hastily organize in,to armies, raw re- 



46 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



cruits from the peaceful avocations ot life and direct them against the veteran soldiers 
of his king, to dispute their invasion of colonial soil, and while performing this diffi- 
cult service he was everywhere to move among and come into contact with stealthy 
foes among his own countrymen who were committed to the cause of royalty and the 
betrayal of the colonists. 




PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON. 
From a painting by Gilbert Stewart. 

He was not a soldier because of his fondness for tinsel, parade or mere military glory 
but because of the exigencies of the times in which he lived. After theseexigencies has 
passed he gladly yield up all investiture of military authority and dropped back to 
the enjoyments of the calm delights of peace and quietude in his rural retreat ; not sigh- 
ing, as many warriors had done before him, that there were no more victories to 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 47 

achieve, but rejoicing in the coming of the blessed reign of peace. His mission as a 
soldier had been grandly accomplished and he was well content to await its beneficent 
results. 

As a victor he was magnanimous, lenient and forbearing — never vaunted of his mili- 
tary prowess ; and of all the pictoiial representations which adorned his rooms at 
Mount Vernon, not one of them represented any of the revolutionary scenes in which 
he had figured. 

There have been soldiers who have achieved mightier victories in the field and made 
conquests more nearly corresponding to the boundlessness of selfish ambitions; 
statesmen who have been connected with more startling upheavals of societ) ; but it is 
the greatness of Washington that in public trusts he used power solely for the public 
good; that he was the life and moderator and stay of the most momentous revolution 
in human affairs; its moving impulse and its restraining power. Combining the cen- 
tripetal and centrifugal forces in their utmost strength, and in perfect relations, with 
creative grandeur ot instinct he held ruin in check and renewed and perfected the in- 
stitutions of his country. Finding the colonies disconnected and dependent, he left 
them such a united and well ordered commonwealth as no visionary had believed to be 
possible. So that it has been truly said, "he was as fortunate as great and good." 
This also is the praise of Washington, that never in the tide of time has any man lived 
who had in so great a degree the almost divine faculty to command the confidence of his 
fellow men and influence all classes. Wherever he became known in his family, his neigh- 
borhood, his county, his native state, the continent, the camp, civil life, the United 
Slates, among the common people, in foreign courts, throughout the civilized world of 
the human race, and even among the savages, he, beyond all other men, had the con- 
fidence of his kind. 

On the sixteenth of June, 1775, he appeared in his place in Congress, after his a|i- 
pointment as commander-in-chief of the colonial armies, and after refusing all pay be- 
yond his expenses, he spoke with unfeigned modesty to his colleagues — "As the Con- 
gress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess 
in their service and for the support of the glorious cause. But I beg it may be remem- 
bered by every gentleman in the room that 1 this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, 
I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with." 

Washington was not a bigot nor a zealot in religion, nor even a sectarian. "Pro- 
foundly impressed with confidence in God's providence, and exemplary in his respect 
for the forms of public worship, no philosopher of the eighteenth century was more firm 
in the support of freedom of religious opinion ; but belief in God and trust in His over- 
ruling power formed the essence of his character. He believed that wisdom not only 
illumines the spirit, but inspires the will. He was a man of action and not of theory 
or words. His creed appears in his life, not in his profession. His whole being was 
one continued act of faith in the eternal, intelligent, moral order of the universe. His 
broad and liberal conceptions of what constituted the basis of a common fatherhood 
and a common brotherhood would not allow of any narrowing or dwarfing of his natural 
convictions by the trammels of religious dogmas or formulas, and so he was tolerant 
of the fullest religious liberty and thought, believing that every man had the right 
implanted in him by the God of nature to worship Him in vvhatever way seemed to 
him best, consequently the creed of no church ever held him exclusively within its 
narrow limits. His true and tried friends were confined to no religious denomination, 
but were chosen from the widest range of religious thought, and selected only for real 
worth and integrity of character. His published letters in reply to the personal addresses 
of the various religious organizations of the United States in the early days of the re- 
public, all breathe the most commendable spirit of Christian liberality and toleration, 
and show him to have been devoid of any sectarian prejudices. As his diary bears 
witness, he was accustomed to attendance at all forms of worship, and doubtless he al- 
ways found something in each which his unprejudiced judgment could approve and ac- 
cept. In his neighborhood no churches existed but the Episcopal. These the laws of 



48 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



the colony bad established, to the prejudice of all others, and made respectable, and it 
was quite natural, from his reverential and orderly habits, that he should have been an 
habitual attendant at their services with his neighbors ; and while he was one of the 
vestry in the church of both Alexandria and Pohick, he doubtless busied himself very 
little about .vestry matters, further than to fill the miscellaneous requirements.* 

Though a communicant, of the established Church 
and a respecter of its forms and its clergy from early 
associations, yet was he in sympathy and perfect accord 
with Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and Patrick 
Henry in their efforts to repeal all laws which discrim- 
inated in favor of any one religious sect by giving to it 
tithes and glebes, and enabling it thereby to keep up 
its congregations and attendance upon its services. 

He appears to have been so impressed with the im- 
portance of listening to the inward monitor, or, as the 
Quakers are wont to express it, "the still, small voice," 
that in his rules of civility and behavior, written out by 
him for his guidance at the age of thirteen he enjoined 
upon himself "to labor to keep alive in his breast that 
little spark of celestial fire called conscience." At that 
early age his code of rules show that he had determined 
to begin life right, and the story of all his subsequent 
years is evidence that he continued right. The germs 
of -innate goodness and excellence had been implanted 
in his being and through wise parental solicitude and 
instruction and a strict obedience to duty ; they steadily 
and beautifully unfolded to public observation and 
admiration with the passing of the years of his life. 
The pole-star of his impulses and the drift of his 
being were right and duty; to these everything was 
subordinate. He read correctly the motives of men 
and measured accurately their capabilities, and rarely 
erred in his estimate of character. He was frank 
in his intercourse — never dissembled, never stooped 

*In those times the duties of the church vestry embraced not only 
religious matters but also many secular neighborhood affairs, re- 
quiring the judgment of just such a practicaf man as Washington. 
Under the direction of the vestry the tithe collector went forth to 
levy upon every land owner in the parish Under their authority 
the "processioners" surveyed and established all land boundaries. 
To the Church Wardens it pertained to bind apprentices to their 
masters — record of the indentures being duly made in the vestry 
book. To them were paid the fines for the violation of Sunday 
penal statutes. Thus in 1775 we find the following entry in the 
proceedings of the vestry of Christ Church of which Washington 
was a member. "By cash received of Mr. Wm. Adams for the 
several fines for deer killing out of season, delivered to him by Mr. 
Bryan Fairfax ^2.ios." and in 1778 the following : 

£ s. d. 

By Lawrence Monroe for gaming 2 10 o 

" Thomas Lewis for hunting on Sabbath . . 50 
" John Lewis c o 




Upon the vestry also devolved the relief of the poor, the medical care of 'the sick, the charge 
the burial of the dead, maintenance of the blind, the lame, the maimed and also of foundlings 



vagrants. 



for 
and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. ' 49 

to mean devices nor subterfuges. While he was open and courteous, fraternal and ap- 
proachable, he was never trivial, never forgot his dignity, but always, whatever the 
occasion, so demeaned himself as to inspire every one with whom he came into con- 
tact, whether socially or in a business way, with the feeling that he was one of the very 
first of men among men. Washington was not an orator, and seldom attempted to ex- 
press himself at length on any public occasion, but as a writer he excelled. His style, 
as preserved in many volumes of miscellaneous letters and state papers, was plain, clear, 
and without unnecessary verbiage, and his expressions were rarely marred by instances 
of false syntax, though he had never had the advantages of more than a very limited 
common school education ; but from his youth upward he had been a constant and at- 
tentive reader of the best literature of the times, and was very observant of the acknowl- 
edged models of the English language. 

In all his business transactions, and they were many and varied, no instances have 
been recorded by any writer of any attempt on his part to get the advantage of any of 
his fellows. He was a fast friend and a patron of merit. He recognized the divinity 
of labor, and believed that it should be respected and fully requited. True, he was a 
slave holder, but it was for the reason that labor was urgently needed in those times to 
open and subdue the wilderness, produce supplies, and develop the great resources of 
the country ; but he did not look upon his bondsmen as mere machines, devoid of 
feelings or sensibilities. I'here is the most authentic evidence that he looked most 
carefully after their welfare in respect to diet, raiment, quarters, and seasons of toil; 
had them taught habits of industry, provided medical attendance for them in sickness, 
allowed them religious instruction and by his last bequest, made July 9, 1799, ordered 
that they should all be freed. And it is but just to mention in this connection that 
from no one of his freed folks or their immediate descendants has there ever been 
heard any instance of unnecessary severities under his benign rule as a master. 

The estate was large, and land for tillage was plentiful, and every family had ample 
privilege of having plots of ground for growing all kinds of vegetables, while fish were 
abundant in the river and creeks, and wild game plentiful in the woods. 

In 17S6, he wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living who wishes more 
sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery. But there is 
only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by 
legislative authority : and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting." 
i\nd in another letter, written to his nephew, Robert Lewis, August 17, 1799, four 
months before his death, he says, "I have more negroes on my estate of Mount Ver- 
non than can be employed to any advantage in the farming system : and I shall never 
turn planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because 1 am principled against 
that kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out is almost as bad, because 
they cannot be disposed of in families and I have an aversion to that system." 

In a letter to John F. Mercer, of Virginia, September, 1786, he wrote, "I never 
mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possess another 
slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which 
slavery in this country may be abolished by law." Martha, his widow, in 1801, man- 
umitted all the slaves she held in her own right. 

The relation of the African race to our nation, Washington represented. He was 
not a radical reformer, not an ideal theorist, but a practical thinker and actor, and as 
such he interpreted the African's destiny. He recognized his capacity to be a tiller 
of the soil and a mechanic, and treated him kindly ; and taught and practised the prin- 
ciple of emancipation. He regarded slavery, indeed, as the law of the land, and de- 
nied the right of any citizen to interfere with the legal claims of the master to his slave 
but he thought the law ought to be changed, and he stands in our history as the repre- 
sentative of the old school of emancipationists who regarded slavery as a fading relic 
of a semi-civilized form of society. He could work with the negro and mingle praise 
with blame in his judgments, and, without having extreme opinions of their gifts or 
virtues, he thought them fitted for freedom and capable of education. 

He was methodical in all his undertakings and pursuits, no matter how common 



50 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



place; kept a diary of ordinary as well as extraordinary events, and noted down reg- 
ularly from day to day his expenditures, whether incurred for household necessities, 
raiment, the carrying on of his farm arrangements, or for traveling. His strict atten- 
tion to details, added to his habit of close observation and investigation and correct 
judgement, was the secret of the remarl<able success which attended him through life. 
It made him the accurate surveyor, the safe counselor, the efficient general, the capa- 
ble and trusted President, and it made him one of the best farmers of his time. His 
handwriting, from his characteristic order and care, was invariably neat and legible 
whether he wrote a state paper, a letter to some home or foreign dignitary, or whether 
he wrote a deed for the conveyance of land, or an order on his merchant, or a receipt 
to his mechanic, every letter was well formed and distinct, so that it never required, as 
is too often the case with public men of our day, much time to decipher his meaning. 

A a farmer he was not content to merely follow the modes which had long prevailed 
with the planters around him, but at a very early period of his farming operations 
he put into practice new and more advantageous systems of croppings and manuring; 




SULGRAVE MANOR, ENGLAND. 
Residence of soae of Washington's Ancestors. 

laid down his land to grass; planted out orchards of the best fruits then obtainable; 
employed the newest agricultural implements, and had a constant care to obtain the 
best seeds and the most improved stock. Washington was a farmer by choice and be- 
cause he believed the "calling to be the most healthful, the most useful, and the no- 
blest employment of men." He might have entered many avenues opened for him 
when a young man which would have insured success whatever the undertaking. But 
the quietude and peaceful surroundings of a rural life were more in keeping with his 
natural inclinations than the circumstances of other pursuits, which to many of the 
young men now coming up around us seem far more attractive. 

He w,is domestic in his habits, and loved the peace, the tranquility, and joys of home 
life. And we most delight to dwell on the part of the history of this great man which 
pictures that life — the life he led as a plain, unpretending citizen of the republic he 
had been so instrumental in establishing. What to a man of the finer sensibilities is 
the tinselry and show and power of a public life when compared with genial minds and 
■ with a nature clothed in the simple and beautiful garb of truth ? Of all men none could 
appreciate the difference better than Washington. "I am now, I believe," he writes 
in a letter from Mount Vernon, "fixed in this seat, and I hope to find more happiness 
in retirement than I ever experienced in the wide and bustling world." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 51 

His hospitality was large, and his generosities and charities wide-reaching. No one 
was more ready to acknowledge an error of heart or judgnnent, nor more magnanimous 
to those differing in opinions. 

We do not claim that he was perfect, for perfection in humanity is impossible. We 
only claim for him that he came as near to filling the measure of the "noblest work of 
God" as any other man in history. And certainly no character in all its aspects or 
bearings is more worthy of emulation by the youth of our country than his. The clos- 
ing scene of his life on the fourteenth of December, 1799, was peaceful, and a grateful 
people mourned for him as a father indeed. 

He had rounded out to the full his matchless lifework. There was nothing left for 
him to do. He escaped the quicksands into which other feet have been tempted, and 
folding his hands, lay down and passed away in the fullness of years, with his fame at 
its zenith, and like the star set in the heavens, too firmly placed, to be drawn aside from 
its orbit. 

"When common men have perished To lowly dust and ashes 

No earthly trace we find ; Though mortal flesh hath gone, 

The soul of this our hero No grave can ever hide him — 
Rose and remained behind. His very life lives on." 

COLONEL WASHINGTON OF MOUNT VERNON. 

Owing to the death, some years before, of Lawrence Washington's only child, Sara, 
followed as it shortly after was by that of his widow, Annie, Colonel George Washing- 
ton, already proprietor of the paternal estate on the'Rappahannock, had inherited, with 
much additional property, the magnificent domain of Mount Vernon, and was now 
one of the wealthiest planters of the Old Dominion. Washington's fondness for agri- 
cultural pursuits had not been the only motive of his retirement. The harassing cares 
of his command had not exerted a complete monopoly of his thoughts during this pro- 
longed peroid of Indian warfare. The romantic traditions of his courtship it is un- 
necessary to recall here. On the seventeenth of January, 1759, he was married to 
Mrs. Custis, a very young and wealthy widow, who formerly had been the most attrac- 
tive belle at the vice-regal court of Williamsburg. The ceremony was performed 
amid a joyous assemblage of relatives and friends, at the White House, the bride's 
home, where they remained until the trees were budding at Mount Vernon, when they 
took up their permanent residence there. Washington at this time wrote to a 
friend, "I am now, I believe, fixed in this seat, with an agreeable partner for life, and 
I hope to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced in the wide and 
bustling world. . . . No estate in America is more pleasantly situated. In a high 
and healthy country; in a latitude between the extremes of heat and cold ; on one 
of the finest rivers in the world — a river well stocked with various kinds of fish at all 
seasons of the year. The borders of the estate are washed by more than ten miles of 
tidewater. The whole shore is one entire fishery." The whole region thereabout, 
with its range of forests and hills and picturesque promontories, afforded sport of var- 
ious kinds ; and was a noble hunting ground. 

These were, as yet, the aristocratical days of Virginia. The estates were large, and 
continued in the same families by entail. A style of living prevailed which has long 
since faded away. The houses, liberal in all their appointments, were fitted to cope 
with the free-handed, open-hearted hospitality of the owners. Each estate was a little 
empire, and its mansion-house the seat of government, where the planter ruled supreme. 
The negro quarters formed a hamlet apart. Among the slaves were artificers of all 
kinds, so that a plantation produced within itself everything for ordinary use. Arti- 
cles of fashion and elegance, luxuries and expensive clothing were imported from Lon- 
don, for the planters on the Potomac carried on an immediate trade with England. 

Their tobacco, put up by their own negroes, bore their own marks, and was shipped 
directly to their agents in Liverpool or Bristol, Edinburg or Bordeaux. 

V/ashington, instead of trusting to overseers, gave his personal attention to every de- 
tail of the management of his estate. He carried into his rural affairs the same method, 
activity, and circumspection that had distinguished him in military life. He made a 



52 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



complete survey of his lands, apportioned them into farms, and regulated the cultiva- 
tion of all. The products of his estate became so noted for the faithfulness — as to 
quality and quantity — with which they were put up, that it is stated that any barrel of 
flour that bore the brand of George Washington, Mount Vernon, was exempted from 
the customary inspection in the ports to which it was sent. There were many relax- 
ations in the arduous duties he had assumed. Ke delighted in the chase. In the 
height of the season he would be out with the fox hounds two or three times a week, 
accompained by his guests and the gentlemen of the neighborhood, and ending the 
day with a hunting dinner, when he is said to have enjoyed himself with unwonted 
hilarity. He also greatly relished duck shooting, in which he was celebrated for his 
skill. The Potomac was the scene of considerable aquatic state at that time, and 
Washington had his barge, rowed by six uniformed negroes, to visit his friends on the 




WASHINGTON AT FORTY. 



From a painting by Charles I'eale. 
. »772 



Of this painting Washington makes these notes in his diary '. 
"May 20, 1772, sat for Mr. Peaie to have my jiiciure taken. May 21, sat again tor Cxie 
dr3]iery. May 22, sat for Mr. Peale to iinisli my face. In the afternociiv rode with him 
to my mill. Returned home by the Ferry plantation." 



Maryland side of the river. He had his chariot and four, with black postilion 
in livery, for the use of Mrs. Washington and her lady visitors. As for him- 
self he always appeared on horseback. His stable was well filled and admirably regu- 
lated — his stud all thoroughbred. Occasionally he and Mrs. Washington would pfy a 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 53 

visit to Annapolis, and partake of the gailies which prevailed there during the sessions 
of the legislature. 

In this round of rural occupations, rural amusements and social intercourse, Washing- 
ton passed many tranquil years, the halcyon season of his life. His already established 
reputation drew many visitors to Mount Vernon, who were sure to be received with 
cordial hospitality. His marriage was unblessed with children, but those of Mrs. 
Washington received from him parental care and affection. His domestic concerns 
were never permitted to interfere with his public duties. As judge of the county court, 
and member of the House of Burgesses, and executor oftentimes for his neighbors, 
he had numerous calls upon his time and thought ; for whatever trust he undertook, 
he was sure to fulfill with scrupulous exactness. 

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

The storm of the Revolution, so long impending, had suddenly burst over the land, 
and Washington, who had represented Virginia in the First Continental Congress and 
was now a member of the second, was by it, June 15, 1775, unanimously called to the 
couimand of the colonial army. On the 20th he received his commission and the fol- 
lowing day started for Boston on horseback to take command. "There is something 
charming to me in the conduct of Washington," wrote John Adams at the time. "A 
gentleman of one of the first fortunes on the continent, leaving his delicious retirement, 
his family and friends, sacrificing his ease and hazarding all in the cause of his country. 
His views are noble and disinterested." And Mrs. Adams wrote on his arrival before 
Boston, "Dignity, ease and complacency, the gentleman and the soldier are agreeably 
blended in him. Modesty marks every feature of his face." The honors with which 
he was received only told him how much was expected from him, and when he looked 
around upon the raw and rustic levies he was to command, "a mixed multitude of peo- 
ple, without discipline, order, or government," scattered about in rough encampments, 
beleaguering a city garrisoned by an army of veteran troops with ships of war in its 
harbor, he felt the awful responsibility of his situation, and the complicated and stu- 
pendous task before him. "The cause of my country" he wrote, "has called me to 
active and dangerous dutv, but I trust that Divine Providence trill enable me to discharge 
it with fidelity and success.''^ With what unswerving and untiring fidelity, and with what 
complete and splendid- ultimate success — despite disaster, mutiny, faithlessness, and 
treachery in those most trusted, privations without parallel, difficulties such as never 
leader encountered before, bitter rivalries, the opposition of Congress, and the loss of 
confidence, as once well nigh seemed, of a whole people — Washington, never faltering, 
discharged his trust during the long, weary years that followed, needs no repetition 
here. There are no better known pages in the world's history. 

THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 

The electors chosen under the new Constitution were unanimous in calling Washing- 
ion to the presidential chair. On the 16th of April, 1789, he again bade adieu to 
Mount Vernon, and set out tor the seat of government. His progress to New York was 
a continuous ovation. There on April 30th, the first President of the United States 
was inaugurated. 

It is not our purpose to dwell upon the incidents of the following eight years, when 
Washington so worthily filled the loftiest position within the gift of any people. Dur- 
ing tliis period, crowded with events most important in the formative history of the 
republic, its chief magistrate — it may surprise those unfamiliar with the publications of 
the time — was pursued in his official acts, and even private life, by a bitter partisan 
malignity, the like of which is almost unknown in our later day. The pressure of pub- 
lic duties admitted but few opportunities to visit his home. During one of these visits 
there, in the summer of 1796, he wrote his farewell address, which a great British his- 
torian has declared to be "unequalled by any composition of uninspired wisdom." He 
was now looking forward with unfeigned longing to his retirement. His term of ofifice 
expired March 4, 1797, when Mr. Adams, in his inaugural address, spoke of his prede- 



54 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

cessor as one "w<io, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, 
temperance, and fortitude, had merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded 
the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity." 
LAST WILL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

In July of 1799, only a few months previous to his death, George Washington 
made his last will and testament with the following preamble, the brevity of which, as 
well as the clearness of language in the bequests which follow it, are in striking con- 
trast with the rambling verbiage of the wills generally of that time, as appears by the 
county records. 

•'I George Washington of Mount Vernon, a citizen of the United States and lately 
President of the same, do make, ordain, and declare ihis instrument which is written by 
my own hand and every page thereof subscribed with my name to be my last Will and 
Testament, revoking all others." 

The handwriting of this interesting historic document still preserved in the Clerk's 
office of Fairfax county, is in the writer's usual careful and legibk style. 

To his wife Martha, he devised with some exceptions "all his estate, real and person- 
al for the term of her natural life. At Mrs. Washington's death, which occurred May 
22, 1802, his estate left by her was to be divided among his many relatives and to 
public institutions of learning and to charities, under particular specifications. His 
real estate in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky not including 
the domain of- Mount Vernon of 8000 acres and the town lots in Alexandria and the 
National Capital amounted to 5000 acres. Just what his personal effects amounted to 
does not appear, but the value is known to have been very considerable. 

In the will the testator directs about the place and manner of his last resting place 
in the following clause: 

"The family vault at Mount Vernon requiring repairs and being improperly situated, 
besides, I desire that a new one of brick, and upon a larger scale may be built at the 
foot of what is commonly called the Vineyard Inclosure on the ground which is mark- 
ed out — in which my remains with those of my family as may choose to be entombed 
there may be deposited — and it is my express desire that my corpse may be interred 
in a private manner, without parade or funeral oration." 

At the President's death all his slaves numbering several hundred, were to be freed 
with explicit direction that such of them who were by bodily infirmities, old age or 
infancy, unable to support themselves should be comfortably clothed and fed by his 
heirs while they lived. There were many of this class and they became a heavy ex- 
pense to the estate for many years. No one of them under any circumstance was a- 
gain to become a slave. Mrs. Washington manumitted all her dower slaves a year be- 
fore her death. The executors of the will were Martha Washington, William Augustine 
Washington, Bushrod Washington, George Steptoe Washington, Samuel Washington, 
Lawrence Lewis and George Washington Custis. 

The last will of Martha Washington is not extant, it having been destroyed with 
other county records during the civil war. But it is known that the most of her large 
estate consisting chiefly of bonds, cash, and stocks was divided among her four grand 
children, George Washington Custis, Mrs. Eliza Law, Mrs. Martha Peters and Mrs. 
Eleanor (Nellie) Lewis. 

MOUNT VERNON. 
THE HOME AND TOMB OF WASHINGTON. 

One hundred and sixty-five years ago when Captain Augustine Washington, grand- 
son of Col. John Washington of Cave Castle, England, the first immigrant of the name 
to the province of Virginia, was laying the foundations of the home of his eldest son 
Lawrence, on the commanding heights of the Upper Potomac, if some astrologer had 
been present to set his square of the planets and cast the horoscope of the undertaking 
he might truly have foretold that. 

"A mansion built with such auspicious rays 
Would livi to see old walls and happy days." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 55 

The site of the historic habitation was then an unbroken forest whose solitudes dense 
and profound as in the long centuries before, had as yet, hardly heard the sound of an 
axe or the tread of any human being save that of the swarthy savage. The deer, the 
bear and the wolf, still made it their wild abode, and remnants of the old Algonquins 
were yet threading their shadowy trails. 

Captain Washington had been a seafaring man, plowing the Atlantic seas for several 
years, bringing over immigrants from England and carrying back iron ore, and other 
commodities, but now he was a landsman in the Virginia ]jrovince turning his atten- 
tion to home making, and as the sequel has proven, "building better than he knew." 

Lawrence, the son for whom he was building was then a young man of three and twenty 
and was "off to the war" a Captain with the Virginia contingent of Provincials in 
Col. Couch's regiment, serving under the command of Admiral Vernon of the British 
Navy in the siege against the town of Carthagena in Spanish America. George, his 
young half brother, a boy of four or five years was living two miles below in the little 
mill house at Epsewasson, enjoying the rare delights of wood and stream which that 
jjleasant locality afforded. 

Only the middle portion of the Mount Vernon Mansion as we now see it in its more 
l)erfcct entiray, was then constructed. The first building was plain and simple, but 
with its four rooms it was deemed an ample dwelling place for that early day and no 
additions were made to it for many years to come. 

Augustine, the fiither, left the Epsewasson neighborhood to go back to the lowlands 
of King George county where he died in 1743, By a provision of his last will and 
testament his eldest son 1/iwrence was to inherit all the tract of land whereon he had 
built the homesiead already described. He returned from the Spanish main in the 
Autumn of 1742 and after his father'^ death, took possession of his inherited patrimony 
which consisted of twenty-five hundred acres lying below and along the course of Little 
Hunting Creek and fronting on the Potomac river. This tract was the share which had 
fallen by division to his great grandfather, John Washington before mentioned, of the 
patent of 5000 acres in 1674 from Gov. Lord Culpeper in payment for their mutual venture 
in bringing into the province according to an act of the General Assembly one hun- 
dred immigrants from England as settlers. It was known at the time as the "Hunting 
Creek plantation." Augustine had inherited the tract from his ftither Lawrence, the son 
"f John Washington, who died in 1677. 

Major Lawrence Washington in July, 1743, was married to .\nnie, eldest daughter of 
the Hon. William Fairfax one of the King's council and proprietor of the princely 
home of Belvoir. 

He named his home in honor of the British admiral under whom he had lately serv- 
ed as a soldier, but he did not live long to enjoy it. The hardships he had under- 
gone in the tropics during the Spanish war had underminded his jjhysical power, never 
^■ery strong; and he was induced to make a voyage to the Island of Barbadoes in the 
hopes of finding relief from his infirmities. In this voyage he was accompanied by his 
ever faithful brother George. But the voyage and stay of seven months on the Island 
gave l.im no permanent benefit. He returned to the shades of the Potomac just in time 
to receive th- kindly ministrations of his anxious wife and friends and died in his own 
house, July 26, 1752, at the age of thirty-four. His remains rest just behind those of his 
brother in'tlie Mount Vernon vault. In his will, after making ample provision for his 
wife and infant daughter Sara, and only child, he conditioned that in the event of the 
death of that child to whom Mount Vernon had been left conditionally by his father, 
then the property should descend to his beloved brother George. Sara, the daughter 
died soon after and George before the age of twenty was in possession of the Mount 
vernon domain. 

Lawrence Washington's widow having been provided for by bequests of other pro- 
])erty was again married to Col. George Lee an uncle of Arthur and Richard Henry Lee 
of Revolutionary fame. Owing to his connection with the military events preceding 
and following the disastrous exi)edition of General Braddock against the French and 
Indians on the Ohio frontier, Washington wa£ called away from Mount Vernon the best 



56 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

of seven years. He came to its more constant occupancy in 175S, after the fall of Fort 
Duquesne, the defeat of the combined forces, of French and Indians and the cessation of 
hostilities, and shortly afterwards found a mistress for his home in the person of Martha 
Custis of New Kent county. They were married in January, 1759. 

At that time hardly one-fourth of the large scope was under cultivation. Only along 
the Avater courses had clearings been made. The rest was covered by original timber 
growth of oaks and walnuts. The new master and occupant with abundant means and 
opportunities at his command was to give to everything the im])ress of his practical 
and progressive ideas. In time he enlarged the dwelling place to its present propor- 
tions and extended the bounds of the estate by purchasing the other 2500 acres of the 
original patent already mentioned, and other adjoining properties ii .eluding Clifton 
Neck of 2000 acres, until the domain included an expanse of 8000 acres with ten miles 
of reach along tide water. 

The improvements in farm arrangements and crop cultivation which he ordered and 
had carried out by his negroes and overlookers in the course of a few years amply demon- 
strated to all who witnessed the results that he was as sensible and practical as a farmer 
as he had been in his methods of fighting the Indians. Whenever necessary he drairi- 
ed the grounds, adopted the plan of rotating crops, procu ed the best agricultural im- 
plements then to be obtained, planted and sowed the best seeds, erected comfortable 
shelters for his overseers and hands, had his home smithy and wagon shops for the re- 
pairs of all tools, carts and wagons, his carpenters for building and repairing the farm 
buildings and fences, had his grist mill for grinding his grains, his huntsmen for pro- 
curing wild game and his fishermen for supplying everybody on the premises with fish, 
then so abundant in the river. In a word, all things on the estate were so directed as 
to best subserve the end of making the most of all existing possibilities and satisfying 
all the reasonable wants of a ruml community such as was there maintained. Under 
the vigilant eye of the distinguished master everything went on with regularity and 
certainty. He carefully looked after the dt-tails of his farm operations, and being a 
very observant man, he never in any of his journeys abroad failed to notice any new 
agricultural improvements, and was very ready always to put them into practise on his 
own acres. Bringing to his aid the knowledge he had acquired in marking out the 
boundaries in his younger days of the wilderness possessions of Lord Fairfax in the val- 
ley of the Shenandoah with compass and chain, he himself laid off his estate into five 
main farms. The portion in the elbow of the Potomac, and bt^tween that stream arid 
Little Hunting Creek, was named and known as Clifton Neck or River Farm, being 
the first of the land of the Mount Vernon estate entered by the railway going down 
from Alexandria, and consisted of about two thousand acres Between Little Hunting 
Creek and Dogue Run, were laid off the Mansion House Farm of 1200 acres. Union 
Farm 1000 acres, Dogue Run Farm of 2000 acres, and Muddy Hole F'arm of 1300 acres. 
Several of these local names are found in AVashington's will, which devises the ])ro- 
perty east of Little Hunting Creek, to George Lafayette Washington: about two-thirds, 
of the ])ortion between Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Crrek, King on the Potomac, 
and including the Mansion House Farm, to Bushrod Washington ; and the residue be- 
ing the southwesterly part of this tract, tn Lawrence Lewis and his wife Eleanor Park 
Lewis. The soil and other natural cai)abilities of his estate are accurately described 
by Washington. The greater part he says is a grayish loam running to clay. Some 
parts of it are of a dark mold, some inclined to sand, ^carcely any to stone. He adds, 
"A husbandman's will, could not lay the farms more level than they are " And as to 
the river, "the whole shore is one entire fishery," "and springs, with plenty of water 
for man and cattle, abound everywhere on the grounds." 

In addition to his own dwelling house and other buildings on the Mansion House 
Farm, he had, what he calls, an overlooker's house and negro quarters on each of the 
other farms. He speaks also of a newly erected brick barn, "equal, perhaps, to any in 
America," on the Union Farm, a new circular barn on Dogue Run Farm, and a grist- 
mill near the mouth of Dogue Run. Some idea of the extent of Washington's farming 
operations may be formed from the following facts. In 17S7 he had five hundred and 
eighty acres in grass, four hundred acres in cats, seven hundred acres in wheat, the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 57 

same number in corn, with several hundred acres in barley, buckwheat, potatoes, peas, 
beans and turnips. His live stock consisted of one hundred and forty horses, one 
hundred and twelve cows, two hundred and twenty-six working oxen, heifers and steers 
and five hundred sheep, and of hogs, many, almost numberless, running at laige in the 
woodlands and marshes. He constantly employed two hundred and fifty hands 
(negroes), and kept a score of ploughs going during the entire year, when the earth 
and the state of the weather would permit. In 1780 he slaughtered one hundred and 
fifty hogs for the use of his family and negroes. When not called away from Mount 
Vernon by public duties, Washington rode daily over his farms in pleasant weather, 
and kept himself thoroughly acquainted with the details of everything that was going 
on from season to season over his broad acres. Every locality was mapped. Every 
branch of labor was systematized, and all his farming operations were in charge of 
competent overseers, who were required to regularly account to him of their steward- 
ship with exactness. 

With the passing away of the winter of 1799 passed also from earth the stately 
presence of him who gave to the home and estate of Mount Vernon all their historic 
character and importance, and endeared them for all time to the generations of his 
countrymen to come after him ; but thenceforth for many a long year, in the absence 
of the tireless care and watchful eye of the master, the fair fields were despoiled of 
their wonted fertility, and abandoned afterwards to the pine and cedar and the return- 
ing wild deer. The mansion itself and the immediate surroundings were sadly suffer- 
ing from neglect and the hands of the spoiler. 

Such was the condition of this historic domain, when in 1854 came to its occupancy, 
the vanguard of the colony of farmers from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, the 
New England States and States of the West, who bought large areas of the worn-down 
but desirable lands, and commenced that work of restoration and improvement which 
has been attended with such remarkable success. 

At that time there were but three white families on the whole estate. Now, they 
number nearly fifty families, and cultivate farms varying in extent from twenty-five to 
three hundred acres, with values from fifty to five hundred dollars per acre. 

THE MOUNT VERNON ASSOCIATION. 

In the year 1856 vvas incorporated by the Legislature of Virginia the "Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association of the Union" having for its object the restoration of the "Mansion 
and grounds," and the reverential care thenceforth of everything pertaining to them. 
With this idea in view, donations were solicited from the patriotic women of the repub- 
lic, and the "Home and Tomb" with two hundred acres of the surrounding lands were 
purchased of John Augustine Washington, for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. 
The work ot obtaining the necessary funds for this laudable purpose was begun in great 
earnestness. Miss Pamelia Cunningham, of South Carolina, all honor to her name and 
services, and who by common consent had taken charge of the work, was constituted 
first regent, or manager of the association, and she appointed vice-regents in every 
State of the Union as her assistants. Edward Everett now gave his tongue and pen to 
the work. He went from city to city, like Peter the Hermit, pleading for the rescue 
of the Holy Sepulchre, delivering an oration on the character of Washington for the 
fund. Within two years from the first delivery of the oration, he paid into the treasury 
of the association fifty thousand dollars, an amount increased later to sixty-eight thou- 
sand dollars. The vice-regents each appointed State committees, and the money 
raised was nearly all in dollar subscriptions. In July, 1859, three years after the 
movement was inaugurated, and one year before all the purchase-money was paid and 
a deed given, the late proprietor allowed the work of restoration to begin — the work 
which has resulted in the admirable condition and arrangements everywhere apparent. 
And may we not indulge the hope that henceforth this place, to which every patriotic 
American turns with pride and reverence, may be safe from a relapse to the desolation 
from which it was retrieved ? 



58 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

COL. JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 

THE LAST PRIVATE OWNER OF MOUNT VEUNON. 

Col. John Augustine Washington was born in 1820 at'Blakely, the residence of his 
father in Jefferson county, W. Va. He wasniarried in 184210 Eleanor Love, daughter 
of Wilson Carey Seldon. He resided at Mount Vernon until a short time before the 
civil war and until it passed into the possession of the Ladies' Association under the 
control of which it is still held. 

On the breaking out of hostilities between the States, Col. Washington became a 
volunteer aide, with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Gen'l Rob't E. Lee, and was 
killed September 13, 1861, while conducting a reconnoisance on the turnpike along 
Elk Water river, about 9 miles northwest of Huttonsville, Randolph county, W. Va.. 
Col. Washington was a graduate of the University of Virginia, and was a man of line 
natural parts as well as a gentleman of culture, of a warm, impulsive temperament and 
generous nature : in manners and hospitality a veritable type of tlie Virginia gentleman. 
The following facts connected with the circumstances of his death were rec»*itly related 
to the writer by Col. J. H. Morrow, late Third regiment, Ohio volunteers, who com- 
manded a brigade of four regiments, under Gen. George B. McClellan in the West 
Virginia campaign at (he. time, and in whose arms Colonel Washington expired, and 
with whose permission I make this statement. The old State turnpike road ran from 
Brady's toll gate, or Brady's gap, as the point was also designated, along the valley, 
following the course of Elk Water river, and being on low ground was subject to over- 
flow from the river in seasons of high water. On this account a new pike had been 
constructed on higher ground, and on this new road, at some distance below Brady's 
gate, General Lee had established liis headquarters. The bluffs on the opposite side of 
the river from the old road had been heavily picketed by Federal soldiers for several 
miles, extending from Col. Morrow's camp below, very nearly if not quite up to Brady's 
gate. Owing to the mountainous character of the surrounding country, General Lee 

was imperfectly informed of the location of the 
Federal forces, and in order to obtain reliable in- 
formation in this regard, directed (Colonel Wash- 
ington, with a detacliment, to proceed up the new 
road to the forks at or near Brady's gate and 
thence down the road, cautioning him not to 
venture beyond a certain point. Washington, 
however, it appears, probably actuated by over zeal 
and anxiety to be able to report valuable infor- 
mation, went beyond the j)oint indicated. His 
movements along the entire route on the old 
road were, it seems, fully observed by the pick- 
ets, and immediately after he finally started on 
his return a volley was delivered from the pick- 
et line and Washington was seen to fall from his 
horse, which galloped away with the retreating 
escort. He was apparently the only one strick- 
en by the volley. Colonel Morrow states that 
he was standing but a short distance from where 
Washington fell, and hurried to the spot and 
discovered him to be an officer of rank. He 
knelt by him and raised him so as to enable him 
to recline against his breast, and directed one 
COL. JOHN A. WASHINGTON. "^ ^'^ "^^"' standing Hear, and who wore a felt 

hat, to run and fill it with water from the stream. 
Col. Morrow bathed the wounded man's forehead and endeavored to press 
vvatei* between his* lips from a saturated handkerchief; but he could not swallow, as 
blood was flowing from his mouth and nose, and in a few minutes later he was dead. 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 59 

THE RECEPTION OR BANQUET HALL. 

This is the largest apartment in the Mansion, running through its entire width. Its 
spacious ceiling and deep cornice are richly ornamented with delicate stem and leaf 
tracery and other devices in stucco of low relief It has a superb chimney piece of 
fine marble, carved by the Italian Sculptor Canova, the gift of a wealthy Englishman 
and a great admirer of Washington. Upon the three tablets of the~~frieze under the 
mantel are sculptured in high relief in white marble, pleasant domestic scenes in agri- 
cultural life. The immense grate underneath has a capacity for a large pile of fuel. 
The hearth is of white marble inlaid with ornaments of polished maroon colored tiles. 
The whole presents a most pleasing picture to the eye. The dark blue vases upon the 
mantel covered with paintings of flowers, and the bronze candelabra on each end occu- 
pied the same places when the first proprietor received his guests in this Hall. 

In pleasing array on the walls is an equestrian painting of Washington and his staff 
at Yorktown in 1781, painted by Peale. A portrait of Washington by Stuart, repre- 
senting him in military uniform at the age of forty-five. Pictures in oil and water 
colors of old ancestral places in England. 

There are engraved portraits of all the continental generals, numerous autograph let- 
ters and other mementos of olden time and historic value, flere to, may be seen a 
model of the Bastile, the notable state prison in Paris, which was demolished by the 
infuriated populace in 17S9, at the beginning of the French Revolution. Lafayette 
was at that time commander-in-chief of the National Guards and ordered and assisted 
in the destruction of the prison, which was regarded by the populace as the stronghold 
of tyranny. The great iron key to its dungeon was presented by Lafayette to Wash- 
ington. 

In this apartment Major Lawrence Lewis and Miss Nellie Custis were married in the 
presence of General and Mrs. Martha Washington and a large assemblage of their 
neighbors and friends on the 22nd day of February, 1799. The notable event took 
place at "early candle lighting," so we are told by the General in his diary, with 
ceremonies and display of dress, equipage and festivities the most ostentatious of any 
which had ever been known in any Virginia home. 

The bride and groom had both been of the General's household from very early 
years and both had always been the recipients of his favoring love and solicitude ; and 
in this the crowning event, as the nuptial alliance was particularly pleasing to him, his 
orderings for the occasion of the wedding were most liberal and bountiful. 

For years afterward in many a home by the Potomac the neighborhood folk who 
were guests that night at the Mansion of the First President delighted to tell to the 
younger generations of the "grand" sights and personages of the occasion — of the 
stately appearance of Washington and Mrs. Washington as they received the guests — of 
the charming debonair of beautiful Nellie and her handsome soldier affiance in his buff 
and blue and lace, who had won credit on the staff of the renowned General Morgan. 

DESCENT OFTHE MOUNT VERNON HOME. 

Judge Bushrod ^^'ashington who inherited on the death of Martha Washington in 
1802 about 4000 acres of the Mount Vernon estate, was the third child of John Augus- 
tine Washington, a younger brother of George Washington, bom 1762. His mother 
was Hannah Bushrod of Westmoreland Co., Va. Judge Washington was an associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and resided at Mount Vernon, dis- 
pensing a liberal hospitality and keeping intact his inherited landed estate to the time 
of his death in 1829. He was married in 1785 to Anna, daughter of Colonel Thomas 
Blackburn, of Rippon Lodge, Prince William county, Va. They had no children. 
He made a will, and following the example of his illustrious uncle, he provided for his 
wife during her life and then disposed of his estate to his nephews and neices, giving 
specific directions, and leaving the Mansion House and Mount Vernon farm proper, 
"with restricted bounds, which he specifically defined, to his nephew, John Augustine 



GO 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



Washington and which was inherited by his son John Augustine, from whom the 
"Ladies' Association" purchased the home and two hundred acres in 1856 forg2oo,ooo. 
Under this purchase and their Virginia charter, they hold the premises, keep them in 
order and make all regulations for the admission of visitors to the sacred precincts. 
The regent and the vice-regents of the Association, one from each state, meet annually 
at the Mansion for the transaction of business relating to their important charge, and 
their sessions are held in the great Banquet Hall. 

On every part of the premises is bestowed through their management and solicitude a 
care and watchfulness from day 10 day, and from year to year which command the ap- 
probation of all visitors. 

The whole interior of the house in the orderly arrangement of the many attractive ob- 
jects is a study and a delight for the curious and appreciative as well as patriotic visitors. 

For the reverential pilgrim as he passes from apartment to apartment there is a feel- 
ing which brings forcibly to mind and makes almost real the fancied presence of the 
departed master whose dust lies entombed so near. 

Surely no home in the wide world ever had surroundings of landscapes fraught with 
more peaceful and quiet beauty. 

"Ever charming, ever new, 
Tiring never tj the view." 

The numerous apartments of the Home known as the West Parlor, Music room, Mrs. 
Washington's sitting room, River room, Banquet Hall, Library, Washington's room, 
Lafayette's room, Mrs. Washington's room, and Nellie Custis' room are each tastefully 
furnished in antique styles and fashions, and many articles of the furniture belonged 
there in the time of the first president. After his death in 1 799 they were widely scat- 
tered, but by donation of or purchase from their new possessors from time to time they 
have been restored to their old places. All the furniture of the Library room is 
original. 








^ 



-c o2ir = 




POHICK CHURCH OF TRURO PARISH. 

Six miles below the Mount Vernon Mansion and four miles from the Potomac stands 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 6l 

the Old Pohick Church, the second building of the parish, erected in the year of 1772. 
The first edifice was erected about the year 1732 but stood where now stands Lewis 
Chapel. The present house was built from plans furnished by Washington who was a 
member of its vestry and a frequent attendant at its services. The eccentric Mason 
L. Weems though not one of its rectors regularly ordained by the bishop of London, 
often preached there before 1800, The picture represents an old time congregation 
after service. Davis, an English traveler who passed much of his time in the neighbor- 
hood about 1800, published a book of his observations which he inscribed to Thomas 
Jefferson. He was a teacher in the family of Thomas Ellicott, a quaker and proprietor 
of the first flour mill on the Occoquan. In this book he thus describes a visit to the 
ancient parish church, "I rode to Pohick on Sunday and joined the congregation of 
parson Weems, a minister of the Episcopal Church, who was cheerful in his mien that 
he might win men to religion. A Virginia Church yard on Sunday resembles rather 
a race course than a sepulchral ground. The ladies come to it in carriages and the 
men after dismounting make fast their horses to the trees, I was astounded on entering 
the yard to hear 'steed threaten steed with high and boastful neigh.' Nor was I less 
stunned by the rattling of carriage wheels and the cracking of whips and the vocifera- 
tions of the gentry to the negroes who accompanied them. But the discourse of Mr. 
Weems calmed every perturbation, for he preached the great doctrine of salvation as 
one who had felt its power." 

Parson Weems was the author of a life of Washington, a book abounding in many 
curious and quaint descriptions which set all the established canons of criticism and 
rules of taste at utter defiance. Weems first of all others in his little book related the 
olt heard story of the "little hatchet." He little thought when the story shaped itself 
in his imagination, that it was to descend to posterity and be ground into the heads of 
children in the nursery, as a piece of immortal and instructive truth. The remains of 
the eccentric parson, book peddler and fiddler are in the old family burying ground of 
Bell Air, not far from Dumfries. Since the civil war, by the munificence of various in- 
dividuals, the old church has been restored to its original appearance and condition, 
and regular service is held within its walls. 

INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON AS FIRST PRESIDENT OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 

"It would seem, from all we have learned of Washington's early and later career, 
that Providence had specially appointed him by birth and education to be the leader 
and director in the Western world, of the revolution which was to open the way for 
the founding there of a new and free English speaking nation. Every factor, whether 
of lineage or culture in his admirably balanced character, as well as every aspiration 
of his heart from his cradle to his grave is of exceeding great interest to the world. 
Although deprived of a father's care at the age of eleven years, he was, however espec- 
ially blest in having such a mother as the noble Mary Washington, who conscientiously 
discharged her sacred duty as his guardian, counsellor, and friend. Hence, filial rev- 
erence grew with his growth and strengthened with his maturing years into fixed prin- 
ciples, making him throughout his eventful life loyal to every virtue and heroic in every 
trust. He seems to have had no idle boy life, but was a man with manly instincts and 
ambitions from his youth. There came a sunshiny day in April, 1789, when George 
Washington, President-elect of the United States by the unanimous voice of the people, 
stood on the balcony in front of the Senate Chamber in the Old Federal Hall on Wall 
street to take the oath of office. An immense multitude filled the streets and the win- 
dows and roofs of the adjoining houses. Clad in a suit of dark brown cloth of Ameri- 
can manufacture, vvith hair powdered, and with white silk stockings, silver shoe buckles, 
and steel- hihed dress sword, the hero who had led the colonies to their independence 
came modestly forward to take up the burdens that peace had brought. Profound si- 
lence fell upon the multitude as Washington responded solemnly to the reading of the 
oath of office, "I swear — so help me, God." 

Then, amid cheers, the display of flags, the ringing of all the bells in the city, 



62 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



our first President turned to face the duties his country had imposed upon him. In 
sight of those who would have made an idol of him, Washington's first act was to seek 
aid of other strength than his own. In the calm sunshine of that April afternoon, frag- 
rant with the presence of seed-time and the promise of harvest, we leave him on his 
knees in Old St. Paul's bowed with the simplicity of a child at the feet of the Supreme 
Ruler of the Universe. 

MARY, THE MOTHER, 
William Ball the first immigrant of the name and family to Virginia came to the bor- 
ders of the Rappahannock river in Lancaster county and established the plantation of 
Millenback. Capt. Joseph, his son, became possessor of the plantation of "Epping 
Forest" in the same neighborhood. He was married in 1675 to Elizabeth Romney. 
By her he had five children, Joseph, Elizabeth married to Rev. John Carnegie, Han- 




Inci;^ :^cje 



MOTHER OF WASHINGTON:. 

Courtesy- of Mr. Henry Dudfey Teetor. 

nab married to Raleigh Travers, Anne married to Col. Edward Conway, and Esther 
married to Raleigh Chinn. About 1707 or 8 his wife died and he married a second 
time to the widow Mary Johnson by whom he had one daughter Mary, who from her 
comeliness was called the rose of Epping Forest. Mary lost her father before she was 
five years old. Her mother was again married for the third time to Capt. Richard 

I 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 63 

Hewes whose home was at Sandy Point near \he mouth of Yeocoinico river in the 
county of Northumberland. Here in all probability young Mary Ball passed the most 
of her single years with her mother, and in companionship with her half sister Eliza- 
beth Johnson until March 6, 1730, when she became the wife of Capt. Augustine 
Washington of Wakefield, Westmoreland county, Va. He died in 1743. His widow 
Mary remained on the Wakefield homestead until 1775, when at her son George's re- 
quest she came up to Fredericksburg where she could be very near to her daughter Betty 
Lewis, wife of Col. Fielding Lewis. 

As time passed, her children and grand children made her frequent visits and had 
care tliat she wanted for nothing to add to her comfort. The General had repeatedly 
urged her to make Mount Vernon her home but she always declined his requests. 

She passed away Aug. 25, 1789. A granite obelisk 50 feet high with the simple in- 
scription ''Mary, the Mother ot Washington" was furnished and dedicated to her 
memory, near her home in 1894. At the dedication of the'monument it was said : 

"You have reared this beautiful obelisk to one who was 'the light of the dwelling' in 
a plain rural colonial home, Her history hovers around it. She was wife, mother, and 
widow. She nursed a hero at her breast. At her knee she trained to the love and 
fear of God and to the kindly virtues, — honor, truth, a^nd valor, the lion of the tribe 
that gave to America liberty and independence. This is her title to renown. It is 
enough. 

"Eternal dignity and heavenly grace dwell upon the brow of this blessed mother; nor 
burnished gold, nor sculptured stone, nor rhythmic praise could add one jot or tittle to 
her chaste glory. She was simply a private citizen. No sovereign's crown rested on 
her brow. She did not lead an army, like Joan of Arc, nor slay a tyrant, like Charlotte 
Corday. She was not versed in letters nor in arts. She was not an angel of mercy, like 
Florence Nightingale, nor the consort of a hero, like the mother of Napoleon. But for 
the light that streamed from the deeds of him she bore, we would doubtless have never 
heard the name of Mary Washington, and the grass upon this grave had not been dis- 
turbed by curious footsteps nor reverential hands." — DanieVs Oration. 

MARY WASHINGTON- 
The RapT>ahannock ran in the reign of good Queen Anne, 

All townless from the mountains to the sea, 
Old Jamestown was forlorn and King Williamsburg scarce born — 

'Twas the year of Blenheim's victory, 
Whose trumpets died awayin fjr Virginia. 

In the cabin of an old tobacco farm, 
Wheie a planter's little wife to a little girl gave life. 

And the fire in the chimney made it warm. 

It was little Mary Ball, and she had no fame at all. 

But the world was all the same as if she had; 
For she hnd the right to breathe and to tottle and to teethe. 

And to love some other cunning little lad ; 
Though he proved a widower, it was all the same to her, 

For he gave her many a daughter and a son, 
And the family, was large and the oldest, little George, 

Was the hope of little Widow Washington. 

The name resounded not in time we have forgot, 

It was nothing more than .Smith or Jones or Ball ; 
And (George's big half brothers had the call on their stepraother's 

Affection, like the babes of her own stall ; 
They paid the hirger taxes, and the Ayletts and P'airfaxes 

Received them in their families and lands. 
While the widow thought upon it, she rode in her sunbonnet. 

Midst her slaves who tilled her gulleys and her sands. 

Till they sought to take her George upon the royal barge, 

And give him a commission, and a crest, 
When her heart cried out, "O no! something says he must not go : 

My tirst-born is a father to the rest." 
She could find him little schooling, but he did not learn much fooling, 



64 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

And he dragged the mountain o'er with chain and rod, 
The Blue Ridge was his cover and the Indian his lover 
And his duty was his Sovereign and God. 

Still her rival in his heart was the military art, 

And the epaulettes she dreaded still were there. 
There are households still where glory is a broken-hearted story, 

And the drum is a mockery and snare. 
From the far off Barbadoes, from the yell of Frenchman foes, 

From the ghost of Braddock's unavailing strife, 
She beheld her boy return and his bridal cnndles burn, 

And a widow like herself became his wife. 

By Potomac's pleasant tide he was settled with his bride, 

Overseeing horses, hounds and cocks and wards, 
And It seemed but second nature to go to the legislature 

And play his\hand at politics and cards, 
Threescore and ten had come when the widow heard the drum. 

"My God !" she cried, ''what demon is at large ?" 
'Tis the conflict with the king, 'tis two world's mustering, 

And the call of duty comes to mother's George. 

"O war ! To plague me so ! Must my first-born ever go !" 

Her answer is the bugle and the gun. 
The town fills up again with the horse of Mercer's men. 

And the name they call aloud is Washington. 
In the long, distracting years none may count the widow's tears ; 

She is banished o'er the mountains irom her farm ; 
She is old and lives with strangers, while ride wide the king's red rangers 

And the only word is "Arm !" and "Arm" ! and "Arm !" 

"Come home and see your son, the immortal Washington, , 

He has beat the king and mighty Cornwallis !" 
They crowd her little door and she sees her boy once more ; 

But there is no glory in him like his kiss. 
The marquises and dukes, in their orders and perukes, 

The aides-de-camp, the generals and all. 
Stand by to see and listen how her aged eyes will glisten 

To hear from him the tale of Yorktown's fall. 

Upon that, her lips are dumb to the trumpet and the drum ; 

All their pageantry is vanity and stuff. 
So he leans upon her breast, she cares nothing for the rest — 

It is he and that is victory enough ! 
In the life that mothers give, is their thirst that man shall live 

And the species never lose the legacy. 
To live again on earth and repeat the wondrous birth — 

That is glory — that is immortality. 

Unto Fredericksburg at last, when her fourscore years are past. 

Now gray himself, he rides all night to say : 
"Madame — mother — ere I go to become the President 

I have come to kiss you till another day." 
"No, George ; the sight of thee, which 1 can hardly see. 

Is all for all — good-by ; I can be brave. 
Fulfill your great career as I have fulfilled my sphere ; 

My station can be nothing but the grave." 

The mother's love sank down, and its sunset on his crown 

Shone like the dying beams of perfect day ; 
He has none like her to mix in the draught of politics 

The balm that softens injury away. 
But he was his mother's son till his weary race was done ; 

Her gravity, her peace, her golden mien 
Shed on the state the good of her sterling womanhood, 

And like her own, was George" s closing scene. 

George Alfred Townsend. 

When Mary Washington died, August 25, 1789, aged eigthy-three years, her body 
■was buried on the spot chosen by herself on the home plantation, Kenmore, on the Rappa- 
hannock. It was a favorite place of resort during the last years of her life, on a beau- 
tiful eminence overlooking the town in which so much of her life was passed, and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 65 

within sight of her own house and that of her daughter, Betty Lewis. It is a lovely- 
spot,, in a large field, not far from the peaceful Rappahannock, with the famous 
Marye Heights as a background, a pretty clump of cottonwood trees surrounding the 
lonely grave. l"he view in every direction from this spot is at once beautiful and in- 
spiring. Small wonder is it that the woman, who appreciated everything in nature 
that led the soul to nobler and better thoughts should have loved this spot in life and 
preferred it as a final resting place to the darkness of the family vault in Westmoreland 
county, where the body of her husband was laid. 

WASHINGTON'S HABITS, MANN ERS AN D APPEARANCE. 

The work which Washington accomplished in the course of his public and private du- 
ties was simply immense. And when we estimate the volume of his official papers — his 
vast foreign, public and private correspondence — we can scarcely believe that the space 
of one man's life could have comprehended the performance of so many varied things. 
But he brought order, method and rigid system to help him. These accessories he re- 
lied on, and they led him successfully through. He rose early. His toilet was soon 
made. A single servant prepared his clothes and laid them in readiness. He shaved 
and dressed himself, but gave very little of his precious time to matters of that sort, 
though remarkable for the neatness and propriety of his apparel. His clothes were 
made after the old fashioned cut, of the best, though of the plainest materials. The 
style of his household and equipage when President, corresponded with the dignity of 
his exalted station. About sunrise he invariably visited and inspected the stables. 
Then he betook himself to his library till the hour of breakfast. This meal was plain 
and simple, and with but little change from time to time. Indian cakes, honey, and 
tea formed this temperate repast. On rising from the table, if there were guests, and 
it was seldom otherwise, books and papers were offered for their amusement, and re- 
questing them to take care of themselves, the illustrious farmer proceeded to his daily 
tour over his farms which sometimes extended a score of miles. He rode unattended 
by servants, opening the gates, letting down and putting up bars as he visited his la- 
borers and inspected their work. Oftentimes when his adopted daughter, Nellie Cus- 
tis, had grown up, she accompanied him in his rounds. 

Washington was a progressive farmer and introduced many new methods in the til- 
lage of his lands. His afternoon was usually devoted to his library; at night, his la- 
bors over, he would join his family and friends at the tea-table and enjoy their so- 
ciety for several hours, and about nine o'clock retired to bed. When without com- 
pany he frequently read aloud to his family circle from newspapers and entertaining 
books. 

Washington liked the cheerful converse of the social board. After his retirement 
from public life, all the time he could spare from his library was devoted to the im- 
provement of his estate and the elegant and tasteful arrangement of his house and 
grounds. The awe that was felt by every one upon the first approach to Washington 
evidences the imposing air and sublimity which belong to real greatness. Even the 
frequenters of the courts of princes were sensible of this exalted feeling when in the 
presence of the hero, who, formed for the highest destinies, bore an impress from na- 
ture which declared him to be among the noblest of her works. 

Washington at the age of forty-three was appointed commander-in-chief. In stature 
he a little exceeded six feet ; his limbs were sinewy and well-proportioned ; his chest 
broad; his figure stately, blending dignity of presence with ease. His robust consti- 
tution had been tried and invigorated by his early life in the wilderness, his habits of 
occupations out-of-doors, and his rigid temperance ; so that few equalled him in strength 
of arms or power of endurance. His complexion was florid ; his hair dark brown ; his 
head in its shape perfectly round. His broad nostrils seemed formed to give expression 
and escape to scornful anger. His dark blue eyes, which were deeply set, had an ex- 
pres(j»ion of resignation, and an earnestness that was almost sadness. 

THE FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL 

CONSTITUTION. 

It is remarkable that the first report of a celebration in Alexandria in any way con- 



G6 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

nected with national affairs was reported by no less a hand than that of General George 
Washington. ^Vhen the news reached that city that the requisite nine States had ac- 
ceded to the Federal Constitution, the people of Alexandria immediately ordered a 
festival, and Washington, after attending it, addressed his friend, Charles Pinckney, 
under date of Mount Vernon, June 28, 1788, as follows: 

"No sooner had the citizens of Alexandria, who are Federal to a man, received the 
intelligence by the mail last night, than they determined to devote the day to festivity. 
But their exhilaration was greatly increased, and a much keener zest given to their en- 
ioyments, by the arrival of an express, two hours before day, with the news that the 
Convention of New Hampshire, had on the 21st instant, acceded to the new confed- 
eracy by a majority of eleven voices. Thus the citizens of Alexandria when convened, 
constituted the first assembly in America who had the pleasure of pouring a libation to 
the prosperity of the ten States which had already adopted the general government;" 
and, after speculating upon the course of the remaining States, he added : "I have just 
returned from assisting at the entertainment." These citizens had a dinner at the 
City Hotel, which is still standing. 

LIEUTENANT GENERAL WASHINGTON. 

In 1798 during the war between France and England in the administration of 
President John Adams, the French government had authorized the capture and confis- 
cation of all vessels of neutral powers trading w-ith England. Against this course the 
protests and demands of the United States through its envoys were treated with indif- 
ference and even insolence, provoking to the commencement of hostilities by two 
naval engagements. In the extraordinary crisis, Congress then in session in Philadel- 
phia authorized the enrolling of 10,000 ofificers, musicians and privates to enforce its 
demands if necessary by actual war and George Washington was appointed and com- 
missioned July 3, 1 79S, Lieutenant General to command the provisional army. Happily 
however, the threatened conflict was averted, mainly through the personal intervention 
of Dr. George Logan, a United States Senator, and a member of the society of Friends. 
His peaceful and philanthropic influence with the French Court prevailed against its 
arbitrary measures, but his unofficial interference cost him a reprimand from Congress. 

THE PASSING AWAY OF WASH I NGTON . 

"How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
\Vith all their country's honors blest." 

There came to Mount Vernon a bleak, forbidding winter day, December 14 1799. 
Washington was engaged in planning and superintending some improvements on his 
estate which occupied his presence till a late hour in the evening, when, on returning 
to the mansion, he complained of a cold and sore throat, having been wet through by 
mists and chilling rain. He passed the night with feverish excitement, and his ailment 
increased in intensity during the next day and until midnight, when, surrounded by his 
sorrowing household and the medical attendant, he passed gently and serenely from 
the scenes of earth to the realities of the great unknown. He was in the sixty-eighth 
year of his age. His faculties were strong and unimpaired to the last. He was conscious 
from the first of his malady, that his end was near,, and he waited for the issue with 
great composure and self-possession. "I am going," he observed to those around him 
"But I have no fears." His mission had been well and nobly accomplished. His 
great life-work, the influence of which will reach to the remotest period of time, was 
accomplished. 

At the supreme moment Mrs. Washington sat in silent grief at his bedside. "Is he 
gone?" she asked in a firm and collected voice. The physician, unable to speak, gave 
a silent signal of assent. "Tis well," she added in the same untremulous utterance , 
"all is over now. I shall soon follow him ; I have no more trials to pass thro<%h." 
She followed three years later. They both rest side by side in the new burial vault at 
the old homestead by the river. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 67 

The following quaint announcements of Washington's death from the newspapers of 
this locality will be of interest : 

The Georgetown Cenfinel of Liberty, a. semi-weekly, in its issue of December 17, 
1799, thus announces to the country and the world the death of General George Wash- 
ington. "This mournful event occurred on Saturday evening about eleven o'clock. 
On the preceding night he was attacked with a violent inflammatory affection of the 
throat, which in less than twenty-four hours put a period to his life. If a long life de- 
voted to the most important public services; if the most eminent usefulness, true great- 
ness, and consummate glory ; if being an honor to our race and a model to future ages ; 
if all these could rationally suppress our grief, never perhaps ought we to mourn so 
little. But as they are most powerful motives to gratitude, attachment, and venera- 
tion for the living and of sorrow at their departure, never .ought America and the 
world to mourn more than on this melancholy occasion." 

The Alexandria Times and District of Columbia Advertiser, of Friday, December 20, 
1799, of which one half sheet is all that is known to be in existence, thus announced 
Washington's death and funeral ; "The effect of the sudden news of his death upon 
the inhabitants of Alexandria can better be conceived than expressed. At first a gen- 
eral disorder, wildness, and consternation pervaded the town. The tale appeared as 
an illusory dream, as the raving of a sickly imagination. But these impressions soon 
gave place to sensations of the most poignant sorrow and extreme regret. On Monday 
and Wednesday the stores were all closed and all business suspended, as if each family 
had lost its father. From the time of his death to the time of his interment the bells 
continued to toll, the shipping in the harbor wore their colors half mast high, and 
every public expression of grief was observed. On Wednesday, the inhabitants of the 
town, of the county, and the adjacent parts of Maryland proceeded to Mount Vernon 
to perform the last offices to the body of their illustrious neighbor. All the military 
within a considerable distance and three Masonic lodges were present. The concourse 
of people was immense. Till the time of interment the corpse was placed on the por- 
tico fronting the river, that every citizen might have an opportunity of taking a last 
farewell of the departed benefactor." 

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY AND BIRTHNIGHT BALL. 
February 22,1732. 

What day is this of proud acclaim, The plaudits of a nation swell 

Of rolling drum and trumpet strain, 0"er mountain, hill, and plain. 

And banners ftoating on the breeze, -vt » <■ 1 •.• . ^c v. j j 

A J u^ ~;. i„„^ ;„ 5 JNot for ambition s sehsh deeds — 

And cannon booming loud agam .-' tvt . r .1 , , 

" ° JNot tor the conqrors name, 

A people come with grateful praise, This day the glorious mede is given. 

And hearts in unison, But for the nobler fame, 

As well befits to celebrate c , _ i ^ -^ j j 

1-1 u- .u f \\i 1 :„ f „ t Joy ™3n world wide accorded 

The birth of Washington ; a j j u .- 

^ And grander grown by time — 

From East and West and North and South, The fame that conies of duty 

Throughout our broad domain. And life of deeds sublime. 

At the close of the Revolution commenced the birthday celebrations and birthnight 
balls in honor of the successful chief. They soon became general all over the republic. 
The first of these was held in Alexandria. 

In the large cities where public balls were castomary, the birthnight ball in the old- 
en time was the gala assembly of the season, and was attended by an array of fashion 
and beauty. 

The first President always attended on the birthnight. The etiquette was, not to 
open the festivities until the arrival of him in whose honor it was given ; but so remark- 
able was the punctuality of Washington in all his engagements, whether for business or 
pleasure, that he was never waited for a moment, in appointments for either. '•' 

The minuet, now obsolete, for the graceful and elegant dancing oT which Washing- 
ton was conspicuous, in the vice-regal days of Lord Botetourt in Virginia, declivied 



68 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

The commander-in-chief danced for his last time a minuet in 



after the Revolution 

1 781 at the ball given in Fredericksburg in honor of the French and American officers 
on their return from the triumphs of Yorktown. The last birthnight he attended was 
in Alexandria. February 22, 1798. He always appeared to enjoy the gay and festive 
scenes of those occasions, remaining till a late hour with the participants, his neighbors 
and friends; for, remarkable as he was for reserve, and the dignified gravity inseparable 
from his nature, he ever looked with most kind and favoring eye upon this rational and' 
elegant pleasure of life. 

MARTHA DANDRIDGE. 

Martha Dandridge, daughter of Col. John 
Dandridge of New Kent county, Va., was born 
May, 1732. Her education was quite liberal 
for the times. It was said she was remarkable 
among the belles who graced the courts of the 
Vice regal governors, Gooche and Dinwiddie, 
for her beauty and accomplishments. She was 
married first to Col. Daniel Parke Custis of 
Arlington, on the eastern shore of Virginia who 
was son of John Custisoneof the King's council 
in the province and son-in-law of Col. Daniel 
Parke, a native of York county, Va., where he 
possessed large estates butspent most of histime 
in England. He was a favorite aide to the 
Duke of Marlborough in the battle of Blenheim, 
Germany, which was fought on the second of 
.August, 1704. Marlborough commanded the 
English troops and Marshall Tallard those 
of France and Bavaria. Tallard was defeated 
and slain with a loss of 27000 slain and 13000 
made prisoners. By this victory the electo- 
rate of Bavaria became the prize of the victors. 
Col. Parke had the honor of bearing the joyful 
tidings to Queen Anne who gave him her min- 
iature portrait set in diamonds, a thousand 
pounds sterling and made him governor of the Leeward Island. His portrait as de- 
lineated by the artist Kneeler is that of a courtly gentleman with coat of crimson velvet 
embroidered with gold, a waistcoat of silver gray fabric with richly wrought figures of 
gold, and sash of green silk and gold. 

Daniel Parke Custis at the time of his marriage with Martha Dandridge was an ex- 
tensive tobacco planter in New Kent county on the Pamunkey river. He died at 
the age of thirty leaving his widow a large fortune in lands, slaves and currency. She 
did not remain a widow long. About two years after her husband's death she made 
the acquaintance of Col George Washington whose praise on account of his recent ex- 
ploits, was on all lips, and they were uniie-d in marriage January 6th, 1759, four years 
after the Braddock war. She brought to her second husband beside a large land es- 
tate, thirty thousand pounds in cash, consisting of certificates of deposit in the bank of 
England. Three months after the marriage of the twain, they took up their abode 
at Mount Vernon and there continued to live the rest of their lives. 

The marriage nuptials were celebrated in the little ]iarlor chamber near the White 
House, the home of the widow Custis on Pamunkey river. The gay governor of the 
provinces was gorgeously arrayed in scarlet and gold. Col. Washington was all glorious 
in a costume of blue and silver with scarlet trimmings and with gold buckles on his 
knees and on his shoes. The bride wore silk and satin brocade and laces. She had 
pearl ear drops and pearls about her neck. There was plenty of good eating and drink- 
ing in conformity with old time Virginia hospitality. 




AVIDOAV MARTHA CUSTI.'? AT 30. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



69 




WHEN MARTHA WASHIXfiTON W AS 
EIGHT YEARS OLD. 

C<Ktrtesy of Col. Henry T. Chapman, New York City. 



The last surviving child of Mrs. Washington 
by her first marriage was appointed colonel to 
Gen. Washington and made an aide on his staff. 
On the march to Yorktown he was seized with 
camp fever and died shortly after. He left four 
children, Elizabeth, born Aug., 1776, Martha, 
born Dec, 1777, Eleanor, born March, 1779, 
George W. Parke Custis, born April, 1781. 
Elizabeth was married to Thomas l^aw who was 
secretary to Warren Hastings in India and who 
bought a large scope of land and with others built 
many houses in Washington just after it became 
the National Capital. Martha was married to 
Thomas Peters. Eleanor was married to Major 
Lawrence Lewis, son of Fielding Lewis and Betty, a 
sisterof George Washington, and GeorgeW. Parke 
Custis wasmnrried to Mary Lee Fitzhugh whom he 
survived. His only daughterMary wasmarried to 
Capt. Robert E. Lee of Confederate fame. 

During Washington's absence from Mount Vernon while 
in command of the nrmies of the revolution, Mrs. Washing- 
ton was often with him. During the winter at Vnlley Forye 
she shared the privations of the oflicers and ministered faith- 
fully to the sick nnd wounded of the troops. She survived 
the Genf-r;il two and a half years, dying at Mount X'ernon, 
May, 1S02, and her remains lie in the vault at that place. 




.MARTHA WASHINGTON AT 50. 



70 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

What Martha Washington needed the First Year of her Marriage. 
Ordered from London by Col. Washington, 1759. 



The following is an exact copy of this memoranda, 
which is curiously quaint : 



Cap, handVcerchief and tucker. 
Fine lawn aprons. 
Double handkerchiefs. 
Pairs white silk hose. 
Pairs fine cotton hose. 
Pairs thread hose. 

Pair of black satin shoes of the smallest 
fives. 
Pair of white satin shoes. 
Pair calamanco shoes. 
Fashionable hat or bonnet. 
Pairs of kid gloves. 
Pairs of mits. 
Breast knots. 



I Dozen silk stay laces. 

I Black mask. 

1 Dozen fashionable cambric handkerchiefs. 

2 Pairs neat small scissors. 
I Pound sewing silk. 
I Box of real miniken pins and hair pins. 
4 Pieces of tape. 
6 Pounds of perfumed powder. 
I Piece narrow white satin ribbon. 
I Tuckered petticoat of a fashionable color, 

1 Silver tabby petticoat. 

2 Handsome breast flowers. 
9 Pounds of sugar candy. 
So Martha used perfumed powder, breast knots, 

silken hose, and satin shoes like any modern lady 



who makes the slightest pretentions to fine dressing. 
WASHINGTON'S SERVANTS. 

Just before the war it was not uncommon to read in the newspapers the annnounce- 
raent of the death of "another of Washington's Servants. Then almost every octo- 
genarian darkey in "Old Fawfax" claimed to have belonged to "Mars Joge," and 
could tell wonderful stories of old times at Mount Vernon. But of late no mention has 
been made of these worthies. All of them have passed over the borders and joined 
the ranks of the plantation armies beyond. 

To the latest generation the descendants of the slave families of the Mount Vernon 
estate have great pride in telling that they are "some of dat breed." In this connec- 
tion we cannot refrain from giving to the reader the ballad of "Thornton Gray," one 
of "de old sarvents" whom the writer once interviewed, and who was reputed to have 
been an offshoot of African royalty. 




,ff3^" 



W/P'^'^:/' 



'U^4i> "^"^ . 



THORNTON GRAY, ONE OF WASHINGTON'S "SARVFNTS."' 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



71 



He was an ancient colored man, 

His age one hundred ten ; 
He hailed from old Virginny, 

And once a slave had been. 

His hair was thin and silver'd, 

His brow with furrows set, 
Features fine cut and moulded, 

And face as black as jet. 

In olden times, the story ran. 

That kings and noblemen, 
In Afric's sultry climate, 

His forefathers bad been ; 

And as I gazed upon him. 

And closely scann'd his mien. 

It seemed a trace of royalty 
Full well might yet be seen. 

He bow'd him low and tip'd his hat. 

And laid aside his hoe. 
The while I briefly interviewed 

About the long ago. 

"My name is Thornton Gray," be said 
"Dey calls me 'Uncle Thorn,' 

Lived mos'ly in Old Fairfax, 
In Wes'mo'land was born. 

"Was ris by Mars' Wilkers'n ; 

Great farmer, may depend ; 
Own'd all de big plantation 

Dey call'd de River Bend.' 

"Made heaps of fine tobacco, 
Had stores of corn and wheat ; 

Hard labor, mind you ; but de ban's 
Had plenty den to eat. 

"Times aint de same as den dey was ; 

'Pears like dey's chang'd all round ; 
De folks dat lived when I was young. 

All dead and under ground. 

'"Taint long I knows for me to stay 

, Here after all de res' , 
I only waits de Lord's good time, 
Sho'ly he knows de bes'. 

"I soon shall yhere de trumpeter 
Blow on his trumpet horn, 



An' call me home to glory. 
An' de riserickshum morn." 

My good freed man, to him I said. 

Of age, one hundred ten. 
You might relate much history, 

Of former times and men. 

I wait to hear the story. 

Which none can tell but you, 

For none have lived five score of years 
And ten more added to. 

You must have seen the Britishers, 
And neard the cannons roar; 

"Why bless you, chil', was mos' a man. 
And heard and seen de war." 

And Washington, you must have seen, 

That great and good hero, 
Who led the Continentalers ! 

And fought our battles through. 

"Why surely I has seen him, 

And know'd him well ; for, boss, 

I was de Gineral's sarvent ; 
Took care de Gineral's hoss ! 

Fine man he was for sartin, 
Good friend to ail de poor — 

Dar's none in dese days like him, 
And none, folks said, before." 

Enough, I said ! I'm well repaid : 
And grasped his trembling hand — 

No honor hath a man like >his. 
In all our glorious land ! 

No further did I question him 

About the long ago. 
And when I said to him good-by. 

He took his garden hoe. 

Who hath beheld our Washington, 

And lived to tell us so, 
Deserves as well a story 

As many others do. 

And hence our homely ballad, 

A tribute slight to pay 
To this departed colored man. 

And ancient — Thornton Gray. 



,The James, the York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac flow from the Blue Ridge 
and the AUeghanies through their rich and lovely valleys and mingle with the Atlantic 
waves and form the Chesapeake, which seems a sea of diamonds with its phosphores- 
cent lights scintillating under the twinkling stars. Virginia has nearly 2000 miles of 
navigable tide waters, abounding in fish and oysters and other luxuries of the sea. 

Along these beautiful valleys are some grand old mansions and magnificent planta- 
tions. At the gate of one of these old homes, we saw not long ago a relic of a past 
age — an old decrepit darkey, leaning against the fence looking with sad and wistful 
eyes over the broad fields and beautiful grounds. Years had passed since I had been 
in this part of old Virginia, and I had no idea of meeting any one I knew. He came 
to me with feeble steps -and bent form ; and as he looked back through the years of long 
separation he called me to memory and through streaming tears, said. "Lord, 
Massa, has you come back to deold home agin after so many long years?" It was old 
uncle Ephraira. I asked what he was doing there. "Laws, chil', I was just looking 



72 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 




"IT WAS OLD UNCLE EPHRIAM" 







'UNCLE JOE AND AUNT DORCUS 
DEY DANCED DE JIG." 



ober de old place once more ; old Mistis and C)ld Marster lies yonder in de garden, and 
all de young folks done gone way off, I is de las one ob de old plantation stock lef. 
I was thinking ob dem big old corn shuckings we uster have in old Marster's time, 
when I was de foreman on de plantation. Ah ! dem was grand times befo' de war! 
Big corn shuckings all de fall, plenty good things, wind up wid a great big supper, 
and den old Uncle Joe and Aunt Dorcus dey danced de jig for de white folks, Laws, 
chile, dem was good old times befo' de war! Possums ain't fat nor taters ain't sweet 
and juicy now like dey was in dem good old days befo' de war." 










-m^ 



"dar com' mars' wash'ngton. run chil' an' open de gate." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 
WASHINGTON'S BARN. 



Washington had an inventive as well as a systematic and thorough turn of mind, and 
was always devising some new and better method for the lessening of the labors of the 
hands on his estate. He greatly improved many of the unwieldly implements then in 
use, such, as ploughs, harrows, hoes, and axes; for he had carpenter, smith, and smithy 
always at hand to materialize his ideas. 




,W:}M„ 



WASHINGTON S SIXTEEN-SIDED BARN. 



His circular, or sixteen-sided barn of brick and frame, sixty feet in diameter 
and two stories high, was the wonder of his neighbors. The threshing or treading out 
floor, ten feet wide was in the second story, all round the centre mows; and the oxen or 
horses were taken up to it by an inclined plane. The floor of it was of open slats, that 
the grains might, without the straw, fall through to the floor below. Later, he had 
constructed, a device, worked by horse power, by which the heads of wheat sheaves, 
held on a table against rapidly revolving arms, were beaten out : this was probably the 
first step, after the hoof and flail, towards the power-thresher of the present day. 

WASHINGTON'S COACH. 

Made in England, 17S9. The body and wheels were of cream color, then very 
fashionable, with gilt relief, and the body was suspended upon the old-fashioned 
heavy leathern straps, like those of the former day stage coaches. Part of the sides 
and front were shaded by green Venetian blinds, enclosed by black leather curtains. 
The lining was of black, glossy leather. The Washington arms were handsomely 
painted on the doors, vviih the characteristic motto, ''Exitvs, acta jrrobat^'' — the result 
proves actions. Upon each of the four panels of the coach was a picture of the four 
seasons. Usually, the General drove but four horses, but on going from Mount Vernon 
to the seat of government, at Philadelphia or New York, he drove six. 



74 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



A LOVE SONNET BY WASHINGTON AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN, 

FROM HIS DIARY. 



Oh ye gods, why should my poor restless heart 

Stand to opj^ose your might and power, 
At last surrendered to Cupid's feather'd dart, 

And now lays bleeding every hour 
For her that's pitiless of my grief and woes, 

And will not on me pity take. 
He sleeps amongst my most inveterate foes, 

And with gladness never wish to wake. 
In deluding sleeeping let my eyelids close, 

That in an enraptured dream I may 
In a soft, lulling sleep and gentle repose 

Possess those joys denied by day 



By your bright sparkling eyes I was undone ; 

Rays you have ; more transparent than the sun, 
Amidst its glory in the rising day 

None can you equal in your bright array ; 
Constant in your calm and unspotted mind ; 

Equal to all, but will to none prove kind. 
So knowing, seldom one so young, you'll find. 

Ah I woe's me, that I should love and conceal. 
Long have I wish'd, but never dared reveal, 

Even though severely love's pains I feel ; 
Xerxes the great, was not free fiom Cupid's dart, 

And all the greatest heroes felt the smart. 



A LOVE LETTER WRITTEN AT SIXTEEN, FROM HIS DIARY. 

Dear Sally : — This comes to Fiedericksburg fair in hopes of meeting with a speedy passage to you if 
your not there, which hope you'l get shortly, altho I am almost discouraged from writing to you, as this 
is my fourth to you since I received any from yourself. I hope you'll not make the old proverb good, out 
of sight out of mind, as its one of the greatest pleasures I can yet forsee of having in Fairfax, in often 
hearmg from you, hope you'l not deny me. 

I pass the time much more agreeably than I imagined I should, as ther's a very agreeable young lady 
lives m the same house where I reside, (Colonel George Fairfax's wife's sister), that in a great measure 
cheats my sorrow and dejectedness, tho not so as to draw my thoughts altogether from your parts. I 
could wish to be with you down there with all my heart, but as a thing almost impracticable shall rest 

myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some min- 
utes of your transactions in your parts which will be very 
welcomely received by vour 

Geo. W. 

EXTRACTS FROM WASHINGTON'S DIARY. 

1773- 
May I. Went fishing in Broad Creek. 
April 13, 1774. In company with Colonel Basset went 
fishing in Broad Creek. 

1774- 

Went to Pohick Church wiih Mr. Custis. 

Went to the barbecue at Accotink. 

Colonel Pendleton, Mr. Henry, and Colonel Mason came 
in the evening and stayed all night. 

Colonel Pendleton, Mr. Henry, and I set out on our jour- 
ney to Philadelphia to attend the Congress. 

Dined with Mr. Pleasants (a Quaker). 

Dined with Joseph Pemberton (a Quaker). 

Went to Quaker meeting in the forenoon, and to St. Peters 
in the afternoon. 

Went lo Christ Church, and dined at the New Tavern. 

Went to the Presbyterian meeting in the forenoon, and to 
the Romish church in the afternoon. 

Dined at the New Tavern with the Pennsylvania Assem- 
bly, and went to the Ball afterwards. 
Wasliington at Three Score Years, 

MOUNT VERNON DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 

The Mount Vernon home during the four years of the civil war was considered by 
the soldiers of both armies as sacred and inviolable ground and consequently not to be 
invaded by the spoiler. The thunders of its neighboring battles echoed over its beau- 
tiful and quiet seclusion and armed fleets sailed by its still shores on their swift errands 
of death. It was well that the great hero and patriot after liis patriotic services and 
victories, heard and saw them not — that he knew nothing of their direful and'baleful 
import. His dying hope and prayer had been that peace and fraternal accord might 
reign for long generations within the borders of the land he had loved and defended 
so well. All that was at an end. The internal strife he had so much feared and de- 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



lO 



precated had came to his country. The dragon folds of hostile armies were circling 
the hills and winding over the fair valleys and plains. 

THE LASTRESTING PLACE OF WASH I NGTON. 



Speak low ! — the place is holy to the breath 
Of awful harmonies, of whispered prayer ; 



Tread lightly ! — for the sanctity of death 
Brocds with a voiceless influence in the air. 



The last resting place of Washington is in a secluded hollow at the upper entrance to 
the deep wooded dell along which lies the pathway from the river. The spacious vault 
is built of bricks with an arched roof; its iron door opetis into a vestibule, also built 
of bricks, in which seen through a picketed iron gate are two marble sarcophagi con- 
taining respectively: the one on the right the remains of Washington and the one on 
the left those of Martha his wife. Over the vault door in a stone panel are the words. 
"[ am the resurrection, and the life ; He that believeth in me though He were dead ; 
Yet shall He Live." The vestibule is twelve feet high. The gateway is flanked by 
brick pilasters surmounted by a stone coping which covers a gothic arch. Over this 
arch is a white marble tablet inscribed, "Within this enclosure rest the remains of 
General George Washington." The coffin or toinb of Mrs. Washington is perfectly 
plain with a simple inscription. That of the General is plain also, except the lid on 
which is represented in relief the American shield over the flag of the United States. 
The latter is hung in festoons, and the whole issurmounted as a sort of crest by an eagle 
with open wings perched upon the superior bar of the shield. Each tomb consists of 
an excavation from a solid block of Pennsylvania marble. 

This vault and inclosure were erected many years ago in pursuance of instructions 
given in the following clause of Washington's will : "The family vault at Mount Ver- 
non requiring repairs and being improperly situated, besides, I desire a new one of 
bricks and upon a larger scale at the foot of what is called the Vineyard enclosure, on 
the ground which is marked out, in which my remains and those of my deceased re- 
lations now in the old vault and such others 'of my family as may choose to be entomb- 
ed there, may be deposited." 

The old vault referred to was on the brow of a declivity in full view of the river, 
about three hundred yards south of the mansion on the left of the present pathway 

from the tomb to the summer 
house on the edge of the lawn. 
It is now a ruin. Therein lay 
the remains of Washington un- 
disturbed for thirty-seven years, 
when an attempt was made by 
some vandal to carry them away. 
The insecure old vault was 
entered and a skull and some 
bones taken. But these com- 
prised no part of the remains 
of the illustrious dead. The 
robber was detected and the 
bones recovered. The new 
vault was then, 1837, immedi- 
ately built and all the family 
remains gathered into it just 
as they lie today. From one 
of the persons who was pres- 
ent at the transfer, we have the following account: 

"On entering the vault we found everything in confusion. Decayed fragments of 
coffins were scattered about, and bones of various parts of the human body vvere seen 
promiscuously thrown together. The decayed wood was dripping with moisture. The 
slimy snail glistened in the light of the door's opening. The brown centipede was dis- 
turbed by the admission of fresh air and the mouldy cases of the dead gave a -pungent 
and unwholesome odor. The coffins of Washington and his lady were in the deepest 
recesses of the vault. They were of lead, inclosed in wooden cases. When the sar- 




WASHINGTON S TOMB, 



76 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

cophagi arrived, the coffin of the chief was brought forth and the decayed wooden 
case removed. The leaden lid was found to be broken. At the request of Major 
Lewis the broken part of the lid was turned over exposing to view a head and breast of 
large dimensions which appeared by candle light to have changed but little in the lapse 
of time. The eye sockets were large and deep and the breadth across the temples, to- 
gether with the forehead appeared of unusual size." 

These remains were placed in the marble sarcophagus and sealed from sight October 
7th, 1837 and since that time have never been disturbed. 

IMPROVEMENT AND PROTECTION OF THE MOUNT VERNON ESTATE. 

Elsewhere in this "Hand Book." allusion has been made to the changes which 
have been wrought on the Mount Vernon Estate since the passing away of its distin- 
guished proprietor at the close of the last century. First, of its rapid decadence, 
through neglect and improvident culture, from well ordered conditions of agriculture 
to those of unthrift and desolation, and finally, after the lapse of half a century, of the 
coming of new hands from places remote, to begin the work of transforming the wasted 
areas to fields of waving grain and clover, and to orchards of abundant fruitage. The 
work of restoration has been increasing from year to year since 1S52, and, now that 
the electric railway has made the entire domain suburban to Alexandria and Wash- 
ington, the prospect of still greater imjirovements becomes brighter and more encour- 
aging. With the cheap and rapid transit which is afforded by this road to and from 
these cities there will cloubtless be large accessions of new settlers from localities far 
less favored, to occupy the divisions and subdivis^ions of the many large farms of the 
estate. 

Just after the Mexican war when the general government was casting about to find 
a suitable location for the National Military Asylum, or Soldiers' Home, as it is now 
called, the Hon. Lewis McKenzie'and other prominent citizens of Alexandria proposed 
and strenuously urged upon the authorities the acquirement by purchase of a thousand 
acres of the estate for that purpose. No more fitting choice could have been made for 
a soldier's refuge, and the property could have been secured at that time for less than 
thirty thousand dollars. 

In 1859, the "Ladies' Association," with their patriotic contributions of two hun- 
dred thousand dollars, purchased the "Mansion" and two hundred acres, and began 
the work of restoring and preserving the buildings and the immediate grounds. How 
well they have succeeded in their efforts, the present attractive appearance of the prem- 
ises and the orderly arrangements of policeing and other daily duties incident to the 
reception of visitors most satisfactorily attest. And while a grateful and appreciative 
public are ready and willing to accord to the patriotic association all due credit and 
praise for their earnest and continuing care and solicitude, there is a rapidly increasing 
conviction, nevertheless, among all such as reverence the name and goodly fame of 
Washington, all over our land, that the time has come for the control of the "Home 
and Tomb" to pass into the hands of the general government, that our people may be 
relieved from the odium of laving all pilgrims to this much frequented shiine under 
capitation tribute before allowing them permission to enter the gates of its enclosures. 
As Washington wasabove'and beyond all merely mercenary motives, and despised un- 
dignified scliemings, so the place which was honored by his living presence and which 
holds his ashes ought to be accessible without money or price. In Europe every mau- 
soleun) of note is freely opened to visitors without charge, and not only every mauso- 
leum but every depository of arts and literature; and reproachful allu.'-ions are not un- 
frequently heard by Ainerican tourists abroad from foreigners who have been required 
to pay a fee at the entrance to the mausoleum of George Washington. 

May we not hope that among the many unreasonable customs of our country which 
are doomed to pass away before the march of progress, this discreditable custom of 
levying tribute at the gate of Mount Vernon may be among the first to be discontinued. 
To the objection so often urged by those who look with disfavor upon the change pro- 
posed, that the place under government control would not be so well cared for and 
guarded from depredations as under the present provident management of the ladies, it 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



seems only necessary to refer to the result through many years of that control of the 
Smithsonian and National museums, the agricultural grounds, and public parks, the 
Congressional library, Arlington and other public charges now under exclusive govern- 
ment care. A tithe of the yearly appropriations wasted on worthless fortifications, and- 
warships would amply suffice to keep up all needed repairs at Mt. Vernon, and a small 
detail of soldiers from the army would supply the required work of policeing and pro- 
tecting all from the hands of the spoiler. 




__££ - "?: — 5—: — ^^ 



WASHINGTON'S MILL AT EPSEWASSON. 

Lord Thomas Culpeper was vice regal governor of the colony of Virginia one year, 
that of 1679. On his return to England at the close of his administration, he, with 
several associates, obtained, as a court favor, a royal grant of all the lands, timbers and 
water ways of the Northern Neck of Virginia, which included all the territory lying be- 
tween the Potomac and the Rappahannock rivers, and the head of the waters thereof 
The rights of his associates to the grant, Culpeper subsequently purchased and became 
-ole proprietor, and as it was for his interest to have his millions of acres settled and 



78 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

improved, he took advantage of the provisions of a law which had been passed by the 
colonial legislature allowing to every person who would import from England a settler, 
the reward of a title to fifty acres of unseated lands, and thus it came to pass that Lieut. 
Col. John Washington, a greatgrandfather of the General, and Col. Nicholas Spencer, 
a cousin of the proprietor, both of whom had served in the legislature ol Virginia in 
1666-67, and the latter as president of the council, for and in consideration of having, 
at their own expense, imported one hundred English immigrants inio the colony, re- 
ceived in the "twenty-seventh year of the reinge of our Sovereigne Lord, King 
Charles ye second. Anno Domini 1674," a grant from the proprietor of five thousand 
acres of land "scituate, lying and being in the county of Stafford,* in the freshes of 
Pottomeek river and neare opposite to Piscataway, Indian towne of Mariland and, 
neare the land of Capt. Giles Brent on the north side, and neare the land surveyed 
for Mr. Wm. Dudley and others on the south side, being a necke of land bounded 
betweene two creeks and the maine river on the east side, and by the said maine river 
of Pottomack on the north, and by a creeke called by ye English, Little Hunting 
Creek and the maine branches thereof. On the south by a creek named and called 
by the Indians Epsewasson Creek and the maine branch thereof, which creeke, di- 
vides this land of Griene and Dudley and others on the west side by a right lyne 
drawne from the branches of the aforesaid Epsewasson and Little Hunting creek, in- 
cluding the aforesaid quantity of 5,000 acres, together with all trees, profits, como- 
dyties, emoluments, and additions whatsoever therein belonging, and all manner of 
mines of gold, silver and copper. And provided that if the said Lieut. Colonel John 
Washington and Col. Nicholas Spencer, their heirs or assigns, shall not plant or seate 
the said lands within the term of three years next ensuing, then this grant and every- 
thing herein contained to be null and void." 

This grant or tract remained undivided and but little improved until the year 1690, 
when by an order of the court of Stafford one John Washington and George Brent 
were commissioned to make an equal division of it between Lawrence, son and heir of 
Col. John Washington, and the heirs of Col. Spencer. The division was made so that 
each share should have half of the river boundary and half of the back line as nearly 
as in point of quality could be made, and that one creek should belong entirely to one 
share, and the other creek to the other share. The part next to Epsewasson creek fell 
to the Spencers, and the part next to Little Hunting creek fell to Lawrence Washington 
with the contingent that the former was to pay to the latter twenty five hundred pounds 
of tobacco and a certain amount in cash to makeup for estimated differences of value. 

Some time after this division, Lawrence Washington, dying, left his share of 2500 
acres to his daughter, Mildred, who married Roger Gregory: and in 1726 they both 
united in a deed for the same property to Capt. Augustine Washington, the father of 
the General, for the consideration of about nine hundred dollars. He was a sea faring 
man. In 1725 he was captain of a ship, carrying iron from Agokeek, Colchester and 
other iron furnaces and bringing back convicts as settlers. He was born in 1694 and 
died in 1743 in King George county. In the year 1734 or 35, he came up from the 
lower river lands of Westmoreland which he had deemed unhealthy, to make improve- 
ments on the upper Potomac grant. He brought with him his family consisting of 
Mary, his wife, and their children consisting of Augustine, Jane, George, Betty and 
Samuel. He settled down with them at the head of that beautiful arm of the river 
next below Mount Vernon known as Doeg Bay and on the banks of the Epsewasson, a 
stream flowing into it, constructed a grist and saw mill. All the surrounding lands 
v.-ere at that time in process of settlement, and as they came into cultivation, mills for 
sawing the timbers for habitations and grinding the grains for feeding the pioneers be- 
came an urgent necessity, and Captain Augustine, with his keen foresight, was among 
the first to anticipate and provide for these wants. Nearby the grist mill, he erected a 
small dwelling, where the prudent and matronly housewife, Mary, went her rounds of 
busy care, "looking well to her household and eating not the bread of idleness," where 
the youthful George, the hope afterwards of unborn millions, passed several years of 

*Now in the county of Fairfax. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 79 

his useful life, and where the younger children, John Augustine and Mildred, were 
probably born. The mill was provided with the best machinery that could then be 
obtained, and so excellent in after years was the flour manufactured for export under 
the management of George, the son, that its brand always passed without inspection. 
Large cargoes of it were shipped to the West Indies and other points in schooners, 
which then came in the deeper waters and loaded at the very doors of the mill. The 
picture as given is not an ideal of the old structure, but a correct representation of it 
from a drawing made long years ago. In this mill was ground also, all the flour and 
meal for the surrounding neighborhood as well as the grists of the grain products of the 
five large plantations of the Mount Vernon estate. 

There are a few still living who have youthful memories of the mill in the closing 
days of its usefulness, who heard the busy din and clatter of its old wooden cog wheels 
and saw the dusty miller taking his tolls and the cumbrous ox wains, with their ebony 
colored drivers bringing in and carrying away th^ir grists. 

The shaky tenement stood until the beginning of the fifties. The plash of the pent 
up waters over its great wheel with foam, and rainbow hues, and the clatter and din of 
its grinding gear have been silent for nearly three-score years. The long race way 
which led the hurrying waters from the pond far up the valley across the fields to turn 
the busy wheel is now a grazing ground for cattle. The springs no longer confined by 
dyke or dam are scattered and running to waste. Many of the stones of the mill walls 
have been carried away to be used for foundations of houses in the neighborhood. At 
the door of a farm house nearby, the great nether stone that ground the whilom grists, 
now serves as a stepping stone to the doorway. The stream whose depth floated the 
trading schooners of the olden time, and where the fisherman cast his net lor herring 
and shad ; and where the youthful George mayhaps angled and took his first lessons in 
the art of swimming, have been filled by the descending alluvion from the cultivated 
fields through the many years, and are now no more than an easy fording place. 

Augustine Washington remained at Epsewasson but a {ew years, but to him they were 
years of busy life. Besides building the mill as described, he erected the middle and 
original portion of the Mount Vernon mansion for his son Lawrence, who was then ab- 
sent from the province and engaged in the siege of Carthagena. 

It will be remembered that the mill was one of the last places visited by General 
Washington in his usual round of inspection of his farming premises, on the day pre- 
vious to his sudden death. The locality is one rather sequestered and lonely, with 
rarely a passing traveler. 

But go there reader as the writer has gone many a time, if your sympathies and rever- 
ential inclinations are for objects like these and take your seat in the drowsy quiet of 
a midsummer day under the shadowy branches of one of the oaks still remaining of the 
olden forest ; and while you gaze on the briar grown ruins and listen to the murmur of 
the dwindled stream which goes hurrying on in its course to join the waters of the ma- 
jestic stream but a mile or two beyond, the mystic veil which hides the vanished years 
of a century and a half will rise, and lo! all around you will throng the faded scenes 
and forms of the early days. The fallen stones will move from the scattered heaps un- 
der the straggling vines and brambles and take their places in the walls again. The 
mill of Augustine and George Washington will be itself once more. The water will 
come pouring down over the mossy wheel. You will hear the clattering of the grind- 
ing gear, and the plantation wains will bring in and carry away their burdens. You 
will see the dusty miller taking his tolls and filling the bins. A horseman will ride up, 
and hitching his horse by the door, go in and hold parley with the miller, and you 
will not need to ask who he is, for his stately mien and dignified bearing will at once 
proclaim him the proprietor. You will see, too, the trading schooner waiting at the 
landing for its cargo for Jamaica or Barbadoes. The early pioneers in rough homespun 
garb and quaint vehicles will pass along the old highway by you in toilsome march for 
the new Canaan of their imaginations, there to fix their landmarks and lay the hearth 
stones. Anon, you will see straggling companies of provincial troops dressed in kersey 
or buckskin, with heavy flint lock muskets on their shoulders, hurrying up to the camp 



so SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

at the new born hamlet of Alexandria. General Eraddock and Governor Dinwiddle, 
Commodore Keppleand General John St. Clair will ride along in the pomp of vice re- 
gal chariot and dashing retinue and guards of British regulars in showy scarlet uni- 
forms bright with gilding and tinsel. War's wild alarum has been sounded, and the 
frontiers must be held against the encroachments of the French and their murderous 
Indian allies. Among other passers up the highway, you will see a strippling wagon 
boy in homely workman's garb driving his own team, and like the rest of the wayfarers 
hurrying to the camp. He had been for a year in the employ of John Ballentine, haul-' 
ing iron ore to his furnace at Colchester, but the drum and fife of the troopers and the 
wild rumors of war have opened the vision of his adventurous spirit to other duties and 
other lines of action. 

He is going to offer his team to Braddock's quartermaster to haul supplies for the 
army over the mountains. Very obscure, lowly and friendless was this wagon boy then, 
but under that homespun shirt and buckskin cap were the lion heart and comprehensive 
intellect which when ere long the opportunities came to him were to win for him a re- 
nown as a soldier and commander, world wide and imperishable. 

The boy who plodded over the weary roads of the Occoquan with his loads of ore 
for the furnace became in after years the strategic and trusted soldier, the intrepid lead- 
er of the riflemen of Virginia and the swaying spirit and hero of Quebec, Saratoga and 
Cowpens. 

The years pass on. The war is over. The French and Indians have receded and 
peace and safety for the new settlements reign in the place, of alarm. Braddock is 
resting in an unmarked grave in the far off wilderness beyond the mountains. The 
jirovincial troopers are back from the disastrous rout at Duquesne to their homes in 
the lowlands. Col. Washington, the hero of the day, has been elected to the House 
of Burgesses from the county of Fairfax, and has been down attending the session at 
Williamsburg, and now we see him coming up the highway in his coach and four with 
outriders. But he is not alone. Beside him sits a prim, matronly looking lady at- 
tired in silk and laces who but the day before was the widow Custis. Now, she is 
Mrs. George Washington and is going up to preside as the mistress of the manor house 
of Mount Vernon. Other historic scenes appear and vanish as we gaze, and the Vir- 
ginia Colonel again rides along as he goes to and from the provincial capital. 

Years later the continental armies of Washington, Green, Lafayette and Wayne surge 
along, going to the closing act in the revolutionary drama. 

Not in all the thirteen colonies was there a more historic road than this which cours- 
ed down from the mountains by Alexandria, Epsewasson and over the Occoquan at Col- 
chester and. down to Williamsburg. It is one of the most interesting landmarks in our 
State. 

The site of the old mill we have been describing is distant two miles from the Mount 
Vernon Mansion, two from old Belvoir, one from Woodlawn, the second home of 
Nellie Custis Lewis, and a half mile from the turnpike leading from Alexandria to Ac- 
cotink. It will repay a diversion from the beaten line of travel with the varied reflec- 
tions it will evoke from every pilgrim, whose patriotism and reverence are wont to 
kindle at every shrine around which lingers an association or memorial glimpse, how- 
ever faint and dim, of the illustrious personage whose name and fame, are indissolubly 
linked with so much that we all value and hold in kindly remembrance and holy trust. 

WOODLAWN, THE HOME OF NELLIE CUSTIS LEWIS. 

The portrait of Miss Nellie Custis by Gilbert Stuart from which the accompanying 
engraving was taken and which is now in the possession of Prof. William F. Lee of 
Lexington ("oUege, Va., was considered by cotemporary judges an excellent likeness 
and one of the most beautiful faces the artist had painted in the colonies. Miss Nellie 
was frequently in the company of Stuart at Mount Vernon and other places, the result 
of which was a very cotdial and enduring friendship. The portrait was the most at- 
tractive picture among the rare paintings at Arlington House, the residence of her 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 81 

brother for about fifty years. It is the likeness of a maiden about eighteen years of 
age, the admired of all who attended the republican court during the last years of 
Washington's administration as President of the United States. 

She is dressed in a plain white garment, in the scant fashion of the day, one of her 
plump, bare arms forming a conspicuous feature of the picture, her chin resting upon a 
finger of her gently closed hand. Her sweet face, regular in every feature, is garnished 
by her dark curls, tastefully clustering around her forehead and temples, while her long 
hair, gathered in an apparently careless manner on the top of her head, is secured by 
a cluster of white flowers. The whole picture is modest, simple, beautiful. 

"Nellv Custis," as she was called in her maidenhood, was as witty as she was beau- 
tiful: quick at repartee, highly accomplished, full of information, a good conversation- 
alist, the life of any company whether young or old, and was greatly beloved by her 
foster father, the great patriot. When in June, 1775, Washington was appointed Com- 
mander-in Chief of the Continental Army, he placed John Parke Custis, the father of 
"Nellie," on his staff, in which capacity he served during most of the long war that 
followed. He was aide to Washington at the siege of Yorktown in the autumn of 1 7S1 
and was then a member of the Virginia Assembly but dying that year of fever, his 







WOODLAWN, THE HOME OF NELLIE CUSTIS LEWIS. 

children, George W. Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, were left orphans, the for- 
mer only six months old and the latter nearly three years old, and became the adopted 
children of Washington, and the fondly cared for inmates of the home at Mount Ver- 
non. Here a private tutor of collegiate training was provided for them and under the 
watchful and exemplary care of their distinguished guardians; their young minds were 
developed for the practical duties of life. 

Nellie was born at Abingdon, the Custis homestead on the Potomac just above the 
four mile run, March 21, 1778. Her mother was a descendant of Cecil Calvert, Lord 
Baltimore, through her grandfather Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy, Maryland. A 
paternal ancestor, John Parke, was,a tone time a member of the English Parliament and 
afterwards a soldier in Queen Anne's army in Holland and became an aide de camp of 
the renowned Marlborough at the battle of Blenheim in Germany, fought August 2nd, 
1801. Marlborough commanded the English troops and Marshal Tallard those of 
France and Bavaria who lost the day with 27000 killed and wounded, and 13000 made 
prisoners. By the victory, the Electorate of Bavaria became the prize of the victors. 



82 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Col. Parke had the honor of bearing the joyful intelligence to Queen Anne who, as a 
token of her regard gave him her miniature portrait set in diamonds, a thousand 
pounds sterling and appointed him governor of the Leeward Islands. In the rebellion 
in Antigua he became obnoxious to the seditious faction and fell by a musket shot. 

Washington had a nephew, Lawrence Lewis, the sixth child of Col. Fielding Lewis 
and Betty Washington, who was the second child of Captain Augustine Washington, 
who was the second child of Lawrence, who was the first child of Col. John Washing- 
ton the immigrant to Bridge's Creek, Westmoreland county, Va., in 1657. He had 
served meritoriously in the revolutionary struggle and toward the close of it was an 
aide on the staff of General Daniel Morgan the renowned wagon boy of the Occoquan. 
He was much at Mount Vernon after the retirement of Washington from the presi- 
dency, and the ''blessing" of a "good husband for Nellie when she would want and 
deserve one" was bestowed upon her. She and Lawrence were married Feb. 22, 1799. 
Many suitors had sought her hand to be denied for the one her grandfather had chosen 
and preferred for her over all others. About a month before the happy event the Pa- 
triot wrote to his nephew saying : "Your letter of January loth, I received in Alexan- 
dria on Monday, whither I went to become the guardian of Nellie, thereby to authorize 
a license for your nuptials on the 22nd of next month." I'he wedding took place on 
the last anniversary of his birthday that Washington spent on earth. Great preparations 
had been made for the event. The mansion was decked with flowers and evergreens, 
and ample provision made for a time of festivity and good cheer ; and the gentlefolk of 
the surroundingcountry invited. There were assembled for theoccasion the Dandridges, 
Custises, Calverts, Lees, Lewises, Corbins, Bushrods, Blackburns, Masons, Carrolls, and 
many others. The ceremony was performed in the great drawing-room lighted by 
many waxen tapers, which brought out in strong relief the silent portraits on the walls, 
in curious contrast with the merry throng before them. The stately minuet was danced 
and the spirited Virginia reel. Low voices whispered tender words in hall and ante- 
rooms, and the house soon to be so silent and mournful, echoed with mirth and hilarity. 
It was a brilliant scene. The picturesque costumes of the colonial days were still in 
vogue, — rich fabrics, and richer colors, stomachers, and short clothes, jewelled buckles 
and brooches, powder and ruffles everywhere. Mount Vernon never witnessed such a 
scene again. Ten months later in the same spacious drawing room the scene of these 
bridal festiv<ities, the body of the great chief lay on its sable bier and at the eventide of 
one midsummer day fifty-two years after the pealing of the joyous wedding bells, the 
bride who was then the cynosure of all eyes and the theme of all praise from the gay 
admiring throng which had crowded around her, was brought and laid in funeral robes 
in the hush and silence of death to await the last sad rites of burial in the family tomb, 
close to the remains of the long departed friends of her childhood and girlhood years. 

By a provision of the last will and testament of George Washington, made July 9, 
1799, "all that tract of land" in the county of Fairfax, and a portion of the Mount 
Vernon estate "north of the road leading from the ford of Dogue Run to the Gum 
spring as described in the devise of the other part of the tract toBushrod Washington, 
until it comes to the stone and the three red or Spanish oaks on the knowl — thence with 
the rectangular line to the back line, between Mr. Mason and me — thence with the 
line westerly along the new double ditch to Dogue Run by the tumbling dam of ray 
mill — thence with the said run to the ford aforementioned, to which I add all the land 
I possess west of said Dogue Creek, bounded easterly and southerly thereby—together 
with the Mill and Distillery, and all other houses and improvements on the premises, 
making together about two thousand acres," was devised as a dower to the aforesaid 
Major Lewis and Nellie his wife. On this patrimonial estate, these favored subjects of 
the General's solicitude erected in 1805 a commodious dwelling: — much more preten- 
tious than that of Mount Vernon — indeed the stateliest of all the manor houses of the 
upper Potomac — and began under the most favorable auspices the establishment of the 
new home. Nellie w^^ then about twenty-four years of age. It had been five years 
since she followed th*e 'remains of her honored grandfather to their last resting place 
and Martha, her grandmother, had only three years before, been laid by his side. They 



OF VIEGINIA AND MARYLAND. 8-3 

built their dwelling-place three miles inland from Mount Vernon, but on a high ele- 
vation, so that it commanded a pleasant view of the river and the expanse of Dogue 
Ray and its wide stretching valley. 

Hardly half of the extensive manor was then cleared and under cultivation. The 
est was heavily timbered. The soil had not lost all its virgin richness, and abundant 
crops were produced even under slave labor. 

Woodlawn in Culpeper county was the home of Major Lewis' childhood and he 
honored the place and its endearing associations by transferring the name to his new 
home on the Potomac. Nellie's grandfather, in his parental fondness for her and his 
great regard for the husband of her choice did not forget to supplement his liberal gift 
of two thousand acres of land for their homestead with other substantial tokens of land 
and ready cash with which to erect without delay, a suitable dwelling for them so that 
their patrimony was made entirely ample to maintain their high social standing, and 
grandmother Martha from her large resources gave them iitting dower for their new be- 
ginnings. 

Under the roof of Woodlawn was ever dispensed a generous hospitality, and many 
were the distinguished guests from all lands in the early decades of the century who 
came to cross its threshold and pay their regards to its worthy proprietors. General, 
the Marquis de Lafayette, on his second visit in 1824 to the land he had so valiantly 
helped to defend and make independent, came here to renew his fondly cherished ac- 
quaintance with Nellie, the stately housewife, who was but a child when he had seen her 
nearly fifty years before in the home of his old commander, and had taken her oft 
times in her sweet laughing moods upon his knee and kissed her with a parental fond- 
ness, remembering doubtless the dear ones of his own household so far away in La 
Belle France. Nellie was no stranger to the faces of titled dignitaries of the old 
world, for she had seen scores of them and hundreds of our own celebrities both civil 
and military, when a child in the closing years of the war and during the time of the 
first presidency. At all times and with all conditions of life around, she was the cour- 
teous, intelligent and agreeable lady, winning and retaining the esteem of all who knew 
her. Gifted with rare and genuine sympathy she was ever ready in generous response 
in the joys and sorrows, in the hopes and fears, the prosperity or adversity of those 
whom she honored with her friendship. The toilets on the plantation always found in 
her a sympathizer with and a promoter of their conditions. Her religious profession 
she carried out in every day life and made them a practical reality. She was a zealous 
member of the Episcopal Church and a regular attendant upon its services either at Po- 
hick or Alexandria. Always it was her usage, says one who knew her, and is still among 
the living, to have morning and evening prayers which all of the domestics of the house 
attended. 

For nearly forty years Nelly was mistress of the Woodlawn mansion, and here were 
born to her four children — Agnes the eldest, dying at a school in Philadelphia; Fran- 
ces Parke, who married General E. G. W. Butler, and died at Pass Christian, Missis- 
sippi, a few years ago; Lorenzo, and Eleanor Angela, who married Hon. C. M. Con- 
rad, of Louisiana, and died in New Orleans many years ago. Major Lawrence Lewis 
died at .Arlington, November 20, 1839, and one summerday, July 15, 1852, Mrs. Nelly, 
his wife, followed him, full of years and honors to the burial vault at Mount Vernon. 
She had passed four years beyond the three score and ten line. To the watcher from 
farmhouse and village, that must have been a lonely and mournful funeral procession 
indeed, as it slowly wended its course down the long Virginia highway from the Shen- 
andoah to the Potomac. The hearse containing the remains of the aged grandmother, 
and a solitary carriage accompanying, with the two surviving grandsons, one of whom 
was lately living to tell of the impressivecircumstancesof the event. Late at night their 
journey was finished, and the coffined form of Nelly was placed in the parlor at Mount' 
Vernon, where, more than fifty years before, crowned with bridal wreaths, "the fairest 
lady of the land," Washington himself had affectionately given her in marriage, and 
commended her to the protecting care of the one favored claimant of his choice, and 
where she had received the congratulations and blessings of so many of her kinsfolk 



84 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

and friends. Many of the citizens of Alexandria and Washington and the surround- 
ing country came to pay their tributes of fond remembrance and regard to "Nelly" as 
she lay in state in the "Mansion," and to see the last of "earth to earth." Down in 
the family burial-place, just by the waters of the river on whose pleasant banks she 
had passed so many happy days in childhood and youth, her dust is very near to that 
of her kind and loving guardians. A marble monument marks her last resting place 
with the following inscription : 

"Sacred 
to the memory of Eleanor Parke Custis, granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, and adopt- 
ed daughter of General Washington. ' ' Reared under the roof of the Father of his Coun- 
try, this lady was not more remarkable for the beauty of her person than for the supe- 
riority of her mind. She lived to be admired, and died to be regretted, July 15, 1852, 
in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Another handsome monument in the same iron 
inclosure marks the resting place of her daughter Eleanor Angela Conrad. 

With the return of many of our national decoration days the writer in humble tribute 
to her womanly excellence and exemplary virtues and in reverent remembrance of his- 
toric associations has deemed it a pleasure to strew these apparently neglected graves 
with flowers. Even in her last closing years Nelly retained many traces of her early 
beauty and vivacity. She passed away at Audley, a homestead of nearly sixteen hun- 
dred acres in Clarke county, near the Shenandoah, belonging also to Major Lewis, where 
she had lived over twenty years after leaving Woodlawn. 

The writer has been told by her grandson that the early home life and associations 
of Mount Vernon, lingered ever with his grandmother as beautifying visions, and that 
she never wearied in recounting them to her children and grandchildren. A theme 
dearest of all to her heart was the story of her social relations with the fond and indul- 
gent master and mistress of the Mount Vernon home whose passing away from her she 
long and deeply mourned. Her love and reverence for Washington amounted almost 
to worship and who will wonder at her constant devotion, knowing all the circumstances 
and harmonious relations of the beginning and sundering of their united lives. The 
bright particular star which had set in glory to the world was to her a continuing radi- 
ance, growing brighter and^brighter to the close of her eventful years. "All who 
knew the subject of our sketch," says her niece, Mrs. General Robert E. Lee, in her 
memoirs of George W. Parke Custis, "were wont to recall the pleasure they had derived 
from her extensive information, brilliant wit, and boundless generosity. The most ten- 
der parent and devoted friend; she lived in the enjoyment of her affections. She was 
often urged to write her memoirs, which might even have surpassed in interest to her 
countrymen those of Madame de Sevinge and others of equal note, as her pen gave 
free expression to her lively imagination and clear memory. Would that we could re- 
call the many tales of the past we have heard from her lips, but, alas ! we should fail to 
give them accurately. One narrative is retained, as it made a strong impression at the 
time. She said the most perfect harmony always existed "between her grandmamma 
and the General," and that in all his intercourse with her he was most considerate and 
tender. She had often seen her when she had something to communicate or a request 
to make of him at a moment when his mind was entirely abstracted from the present, 
seize him by the button to command his attention, when he would look down upon her 
with a benignant smile and become at once attentive to her wishes, which were never 
slighted. She also said that the grave dignity which he usually wore did not prevent 
his keen enjoyment of a joke, and that no one laughed more heartily than did he when 
she herself, a gay, laughing girl, gave one of her saucy descriptions of any scene in 
v/hich she had taken part, or any one of the merry pranks she then often played ; 
and that he would retire from the room in which her young companions were amusing 
themselves, because his presence caused a reserve which they could not overcome. 
But he always regretted it exceedingly, as their sports and enjo}ments always seemed 
to interest him." 

Of course, Washington was always Nelly's ideal hero, and the grandest of all the line 
of noble men. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



85 



General Zachary Taylor wasone of herfavorites among thepiiblic men of her latertime, 
and when he was elected to the presidency, she paid him a visit, and was for some time 
an honored guest in the White House, where she received the marked attentions of 
many distinguished personages of that day. While she lived she did not lose the hold 
she had in all her younger years upon the popular regard. She was still the storied 
"Nelly" who had been the fondly petted child in the household of him who was "first 
in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 




NELLIE CUSTIS, AT EIGHTEEN. 

Mrs. Lawrence Lewis had two sisters, Mariha Parke who was married to Thomas 
Peters, alarge Virginia planter, and Elizabeth Parke, who was married to the wealthy and 
eccentric Thomas Law, a nephew of Lord Ellenboro. As governor of a large district 
an Bengal, India, Law had been accustomed to thedischarge of important official func- 



86 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

tions and to the splendors and surroundings of a prince. In England his family was 
oppulent and distinguished. One brother was bishop of Carlisle, another a barrister of 
the first eminence and the successful defender of Warren Hastings against the political 
influence of Fox, the eloquence of Sheridan and the virulence of Burke. He was promi- 
nent in the improvement of the National Capital about 1800, purchased a large tract of 
wilderness land embracing the site of the arsenal, and laid out streets and upon them 
built a number of houses some of which are still standing. 

When that fair, smooth brow of the great artist's picture had been imprinted with the 
lines of threescore years, and those clustering curls had changed their brown to threads 
of snow, how she must have seemed like some saintly messenger to those who eagerly 
listened to her as she brought from memory's far-away shore the historic scenes which 
had jtassed before tJiose sparkling eyes in the heyday of her youthful life. Lorenzo, her 
only son, inherited the Woodlawn estate, and resided for some years in the mansion. 
He was married to Esther Maria Coxe, of Philadelphia, in 1827, and died in 1847. 
His widow survived him until 1885. Of the six children of Lorenzo, the last left, was 
*J. R. C. Lewis, of Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia. In 1845, the entire domain 
of this estate, having been almost entirely neglected through many years, presented a 
most forlorn appearance. Only here and there a patch of ground was under cultiva- 
tion — not a handful of grass-seed was sown, not a ton of hay cut. The fields were 
overgrown with sedge, brambles, sassafras and cedars, and all traces of fencing had 
disappeared. Not a white man was living on an acre of it. Only a few superannuated 
slaves remained in some rickety cabins, and these were subsisting on products from a 
farm in another county. The tax assessment was thirty dollars— one cent and a half 
an acre, although the buildings alone had cost near one hundred thousand dollars, just 
orty-three years before. It was at this period that the New Jersey colony purchased 
he property for $12.50 per acre, and subsequently, the whole tract was divided and 
tubdivided into small farms, and occupied by improving proprietors. 

The mansion having a main building sixty by forty feet, with wide halls, spacious 
apartments and ample wings united by corridors was most substantially constructed of 
the best materials, and doubtless its builders imagined their structure would endure 
for centuries, and it is only because of great neglect and severe usage that its condition 
now only ninety-seven years after the laying of its corner stone is so dilapidated, with its 
leaky roofs, its loosened casements and unhinged shutters and blinds, its broken win- 
dows and the bricks and stones falling away from its massive walls. 

Only the irreverent and unpatriotic pilgrim who treads these lonely halls 

"Whose guests have fled, 
Whose hghts are dead." 

can note the melancholy change without a pang of grief and regret that there are no 
reverent hands to restore the wastes and to set once more in order the stately house 
as it was when its first mistress held there her sway. No other of all the historic 
shrines of Virginia, next to Mount Vernon, appeals so forcibly to our kind regard. 
The manor was a portion of the Mount Vernon estate. The mansion was erected as 
we have seen by the loving munificence of the first President and his wife. Its mis- 
tress grew up and was . educated under his affectionate care and solicitude. Its master 
was his nephew and had won honors as a gallant soldier of the revolution, serving on 
the staff of General Morgan, the true hero of Quebec, Saratoga and Cowpens. 

The mansion, substantially constructed of old-fashioned bricks, having a main build- 
ing sixty by forty feet, with halls, spacious apartments, and ample wings, united by 
corridors to the main portion, together with sixty acres of land, was recently purchas- 
ed by a company, who propose in the near future to make it the lower terminus 
of the Electric road, in which event the "Old Mansion" will be faithfully restored 
to its original beauty, and thenceforth be kept as an enduring memorial of its first 

*Died lately. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 87 

mistress, the beloved fost6r-daughter of George Washington. No more fitting place, 
we think, than this could be chosen by the associations of the sons and daughters of 
the "Revolution" for the holding of their annual reunions: and the keeping of their 
archives and historic mementoes and relics. That would make it a desirable and at- 
tractive place of pilgrimage in all the coming years, and most effectually secure its per- 
petual preservation. 

Note — Since the foregoing account was written the writer has to note with great pleasure that the Wood- 
lawn Mansion has changed ownership and that the work of its restoration has been commenced. 

Here is an extract from one of Nellie's letters to a friend in Philadelphia: 

Mount Vernon, 1798. 
"My Dear — We live very happily here — have in general been blessed with health. We have had 
many agreeable visitors and are now contentedly seated round our winter fireside. 1 often think of, and 
would like to again see the many good friends I left in Philadelphia, but I never regret absence from that 
city's amusements and ceremonies. 

I stay very much at home — have not been to the Federal Capital for two months. My grandparents, 
the General and his wife, brother George, Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of the General, and your humble 
servant comprise tl:e family circle here at present. I never have a lonesome nor dull hour, never find a 
day too long. Indeed, time appears to fly ; and I sometimes think the years are much shorter for some 
time past, than they ever were before. 

I am not very industrious, but I work a little, read a little, play on the harpsichord, and find my time 
fully taken up with daily employments. My mother and her young family are all well. My sister Mrs. 
Peters has lately presented us with another little relation, a very fine girl who is thought to be much like 
her mother. I have not seen my sister since that event, but hear she is quite well. I send by my sister, 
Mrs. Law, a cotton cord and tassel which I learned to make last summer. I hope you will like it, and 
you will gratify me much by wearing it in remembrance of me. 

Mr. G. W. Craik is at present much indisposed. Poor young man, I fear he is not long for this world. 
Alexandria has been very gay this winter ; balls in abundance. When I am in a city, balls, are my favorite 
amusement, but when in the country I have no inclination for them. I am too indolent in winter to move 
any distance. 

I shall thank you to remember me affectionately to those friends who may inquire about me. My be- 
loved grandma joins me in love and best wishes to you and your children. 

As the New Year is almost here I will conclude with wishing you and yours many happy new years, 
each succeeding one happier than the last ; and be assured dear Madame that I am with perfect esteem.'' 

Yours, 

Eleanor P. Custis. 

NELLIE CUSTIS AT MOUNT VERNON. 

The Am.erican Revolution was still going on when Nellie Custis was a prattling child 
and it was not until after its last disheartening campaign which ended with the crown- 
ing victory at Yorktown that she began at the age of three years the seventeen years of 
her life which were passed under the guardianship of George and Martha Washington 
at Mount Vernon. Her adoption by these honored personages into the rare felicities 
of their household meant for her orphanage an affectionate solicitude and parental care 
which were to continue unabated while the indulgent master and mistress lived. 

Nellie, though a girl of vivacious spirits and jovial disposition was dutiful, reverent 
and appreciative as we have accounts, and easily won by her genial ways the kind re- 
gard of her guardians and of all her associates and acquaintances. Washington was 
lavish in expense for her education. He employed for her a private tutor, bought her 
a costly harpsichord still to be seen at Mount Vernon, and had her instructed in music 
and dancing. She was quite proficient in drawing, and painting in water colors. She 
loved embroidery and continued the fine employment until the closing years of her 
long life, and many are the mementoes of her skill in this wise still treasured and 
shown by her descendants. 

Nellie grew up to womanhood under influences wholesome, elevating and refining. 
While she was not kept under any rigid restraints, the kindly parental solicitude of her 
guardians encompassed and shielded her from contact with hurtful associations. 
Grandma Martha was a model of propriety, circumspect in her ways and a fit exem- 
plar for imitation. Nellie was vivacious and social in her disposition. She relished 



88 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



society and was always a welcome presence in its circles. At Mount Vernon she was 
in constant touch with the intercourse and manners of its many distinguished x^meri- 
can and European visitors representing every department of the knowledge of the times, 
and at the republican court she had thrown in her way, extraordinary opportunties of 
experiences for acquiring social accomplishments nnd easy and graceful manners. She 
was a child of nature and delighted in all beautiful things. 

To the servants of the Mount Vernon estate with whom the writer talked forty years 
ago, many traditions had come down from their ancestors of the kindly treatment and 
good offices and influences of Miss Nellie. Gilbert Stuart painted her portrait at the 
age of seventeen, an engraving from which prefaces this account. 







WASHINGTON AND NELLI?: CUSTIS. 



A distinguished cotemporary who had mingled much in society's gay circle of that 
period has left us this pleasant account of Nellie, "She has more perfection of expres- 
sion ot colors, of softness, of firmness of mind, than any one 1 have ever seen before." 
She loved out door exercises and sports, rode frequently on horse back with her guardian 
when he went to insjiect the progress of work on his plantation, when he rode to his 
mill on Dogue run, to Gunston, the home of the patriot Mason, to Colchester and Alex- 
andria. At tlie latter place she had many friand^, the Carlyles, the Ramsays, the Dal- 
tons, the Craiks, the Arals, the Fitzgeralds and Johnsons who made frequent visits to 
Mount Vernon and with whom at their hospitable homes in the new town she was an 
oft time guest. All this gave her healthy physical development and laid the sure foun- 
dation of her serene old age. 

The beautiful natural attributes which were developing in Nellie in her later girl- 
hood, with her educational accomplishments, made her a welcome presence in all homes 
and circles. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



89 



That Washington loved Nellie as fondly as if she had been his own child, all the 
accounts we have of their intercourse fully attest. Their companionship was one of 
uninterrupted harmony. She won him to her by the sweetness of her disposition, her 
easy and graceful manners, her cheery converse, and the lavish measure of her appreci- 
ation of all his kindly solicitude for her. 




^i^t^i- 



■S^Ji.^- 



(At threescoreand-ten.) 



NEE NELLIE CUSTIS 



90 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LAND MARKS 



Mrs. Lewis after the death ofher husband which occurred Nov. 20, 1830, left the Wood- 
lawn home and went to Audley, a fine old estate of 1600 acres in Clarke county, Va. 
Where she lived until her death in 1852. 

Of Lawrence Lewis, Foote in his "reminiscences" says : "I remember him well 
and entirely concur with those who supposed him to exhibit a remarkable likeness to 
his uncle the General, at least he was in appearance so much like the best pictures of 
Washington that any one might have imagined he had actually sat for them." 

Here is one of the quaint songs Miss Nellie used to sing to her accompaniment on 
the harpsichord still to be seen in the Music Room at Mount Vernon. 

The Traveler at The Widow's Gate. 



"A traveler stop't at a widow's gate ; 

She kept an Inn, and he wanted to bait ; 

She kept an Inn, and he wanted to bait. 
But the widow she slighted her guest ; 
But the widow she slighted her guest ; 

For when nature was forming an ugly race ; 

She certainly moulded the traveler's face 
As a samjjle for all the rest, as a sample for all the rest 
The chambermaid's sides they were ready to crack 
When she saw his queer nose and the hump on 
his back, 

A hump isn't handsome, no doubt, 
And though, 'tis confessed, that the prejudice goes 

Very strongly in favor of wearing a nose 



A nose shouldn't look like a snout. 
A bag full of gold on the table he laid 
'T had a wondrous effect on the widow and maid ; 

And they quickly grew marvelouslv civd — 
The money immediately altered the case ; 
They were charmed with his hump and his snout 

and his face, 
. Though he still might have frightened the devil. 
He paid like a prince, gave the widow a smack 
And flop'd on his horse at the door like a sack. 

While the landlady touching his chin 

Said "Sir, should you travel this country again, 
I heartily hope that the sweetest of men 
Will stop at the widow's to drink." 




AN IDEAL OF "OLD BELVOIR MANSION." 



OLD BELVOIR, THE HOME OF THE VIRGINIA FAIRFAXES. 

Which seemed to darken and decay 
When you arose and passed away ! 



"Come back ye friends whose lives are ended ; 
Come back with all that light attended 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 91 

They come, the shapes of joy and woe, They make the dark and dreary hours 

The airy throngs of long ago — Brighten and blossom into flowers. 

The dreams and fancies known of yore j linger long I love to be 

That have been, but shall be no more. Again in their fair company ; 

They change the cloisters of the night But ere my lips can bid them stay 

Into a garden of delight — They pass and vanish quite away." 

Come with me reader and linger for a space while I tell you a story whose beginnings 
were long before the drum's loud beat and the bugles echoing call summoned in haste 
the sturdy colonists, from the lowlands and mountains of old Virginia, to make ready 
for the coming struggle of the American Revolution ; even before the British war fleet 
of Commodore Kepple came proudly sailing, the first of all others up the Potomac with 
the army of General Braddock, to wage war against the French and Indians in the 
Ohio valley. The story is not a story of love, though ladies fair and born of high de- 
gree, and men of knightly and chivalrous bearing, figure prominently in the interesting 
details. It is not a story of war, though some ot its personnse were soldiers and had 
witnessed fierce encounters of armies in the old country, but it is a story of circumstances 
which were all important factors in the successful conduct of the seven years of heroia 
strife which opened the way, for the founding of the grandest government on the earth ; 
and it is a true story moreover, though it may have the tinge and character of romance. 

We will sit leisurely down by this grass and moss grown heap of earth and chimney 
stones, here under these gnarled oaks and cedars on the hill crest a hundred and fifty 
feet above the murmurings of the tide. Before us rolls on its seaward course the grand 
old river, broad deep and beautiful as when in 1608 the bold and reckless adventurer, 
Captain John Smith with his little company of fourteen explorers cut its shining waves 
with the prow of his open pinnace, upward bound to the region of the powerful Piscata- 
ways and Mayonese on whose hunting grounds and war paths the cities of Washington 
and Alexandria now stand. 

These few trees around us are all that are left of the dense primitive forest, which was 
hewn down in the time when the smoke ot the aboriginal wigwam went up in its midst, 
to give place to the plow and the hoe of the tobacco planter. They are now scarred by 
the cycles of time, but their branches even in decay are still far reaching and green, and 
will shield us well from the rays of the noontide sun while we recount the events of the 
many faded years. And now, while we are enjoying the cooling shadows, the fresh 
breezes and the natural sights around us, let us go back a hundred years before the sur- 
render of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Across the ocean, at that time in England 
when James the second was reigning and lands in the new world were to be had by 
favorites of the crown for merely the asking, it was ordered by the royal authority, in 
1688, that letters patent should be issued to Thotnas, Lord Culpeper, previously a gov- 
ernor of Virginia for all that extensive domain known in history and geography as the 
Northern Neck of Virginia between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, compris- 
ing in its area the counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, 
King George, Prince William, Stafford, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madi- 
son, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, Frederick and 
Clarke. 

From Lord Culpeper this tract or principality had descended through his daughter 
Catharine Culpeper Fairfax to her son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of his line, who was a 
person of note and distinction in the British realm, a man of learning, a graduate of 
Oxford College and a member of the celebrated literary club of which Joseph Addison 
was the chief spirit and to whose pen we are indebted for the Spectator. This right 
Hon. Thomas of Leeds Castle in the county of Kent, England, and Baron of Cameron 
in Scotland was a cousin of Thomas, third Lord Fairfax, general of the parliamentary or 
"round head" armies of the protector, Oliver Cromwell, and whoof course figured prom- 
inently in the military and Revolutionary circumstances of the beheading of King 
Charles first of England, January 30, 1649. 

By the terms of the original patent to Culpeper he was constituted sole proprietor of 
the "soil" of this wilderness empire "together with all its forests, mines, minerals, 



92 SOME OLD HISTOEIC LANDMARKS 

huntings, fishings, and fowlings, with authority to divide, sell, grant or lease and occu- 
py at will, any or every portion thereof, always however to be and remain under alle- 
giance to the royal prerogative," as was the common phraseology of grants in the days 
of feudalism. A royal gift indeed was this almost unlimited concession of empire to 
one royal subject. 

Lord Fairfax, although his most important interests had been transferred to Virgin- 
ia, was not ready at the time to make it his home and become an actual settler with the 
colonists of his inheritance, but as great numbers of squatters and freebooters weie al- 
ready settling on his lands and claiming them as estates in fee through fact of occu- 
pation, and by connivance of irresponsible agents, he commissioned his cousin Col. 
William Fairfax, already a resident of the colony, to look after his western possessions. 
AVilliam, born 1691, was ason of Henry, second son of the proprietor'sfather and Anne 
Harrison of South Cave, Yorkshire, whose sister Eleanor became the wife of Henry 
Washington. He lost his father when quite young, but his education was not neglect- 
ed. His uncle, Sir John Lowthers, had him entered in his college where he pursued a 
course of instruction which served him well in the varied occupations of his future 
years. By extensive reading and seven years of travel and study in foreign lands, his 
mind was enriched and ripened and his abilities and courtly ways secured for him many 
public positions of trust and profit both in the old and new world. Of an ancient 
English family, he had entered the British army at the age of twenty-one and subse- 
quently had served with honor in the royal navy both in the East and West Indies : 
bad officiated as governor of New Providence after having aided the town from the in- 
cursion of pirates; also had done good service for his sovereign. Queen Anne, under 
Col. M ,ftin Belden ; and after coming to Belvoir we find him a member of his majes- 
ty's honorable council of Virginia and at one time its presiding officer. 

While residing in the Bahamas, as chief justice of the islands he was married to Sa- 
rah, daughter of Col. Walker of Nassau, who accompanied him to England in 171 7 and 
afterward to New Silem in the province of Massachusett's Bay where he filled an ap- 
pointment as collector of his majesty's customs from 1725 to 1734. By Sarah, his first 
wife, he had four children. George William the eldest was born in Nassau in 1724, 
The other three, Thomas, Anne and Sarah were born in Salem. Thomas was an offi- 
cer in the royal navy and was killed in a naval engagement. Anne was married to Law- 
rence Washington and was the first mistress of Mount Vernon, and Sarah was married 
to John Carlyle of Alexandria, Virginia, who was a major and commissary in the 
French and Indian war under General Braddock in 1755. The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1747. ' Their father was again married .'■hortly afterward to Deborah 
Clarke, daughter of the Hon. Bartholomew Gedney and widow of Francis Clarke of 
Salem, to whom she had been married in 1701 and with whom she had lived twenty-six 
years. She was an intimate friend of Sarah, the first wife, who had expressed the de- 
sire on her death bed that she might take her plac'^. By this second wife, William 
Fairfax had three children, Bryan, who by the death of Robert, seventh lord, elder 
brother of Thomas, sixth lord, without issue, in England, became eighth lord Fairfax, 
born in 1737 and died at Mount Eagle near Great Hunting Creek in 1S02. William 
Henry, and Hannah who was married to Warner Washington cousin of the General. 
William Henry was a young man of great promise and it is related of him that at the 
storming of Quebec under General Wolfe, just before the action commenced, H'olfe, his 
commander, approached him and said — "young man on this day remember what is ex- 
pected of your name." He was true to his trust and fell gallantly under the city's walls. 

It was about the year 1734 or 35 that William Fairfax as'^umed the duties as agent 
of his cousin on the Baron's large Virginia estate. Out of this estate a manor of sev- 
eral thousand acres immediately adjoining Mount Vernon and stretching for miles 
southward along the river had been assigned to him by the proprietor as a gift in per- 
petuity and here he came about the year 1736 to establish a home which in time 
was to become prominent and famed in the new world's annals. To this spot where we 
are gathered by these gnarled oaks and where the heaps of blackened hearthstones re- 
main a silent but melancholy witness to the past, duly repaired the builders and erect- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



93 



ed a mansion ; and surely no more desirable site could have been selected for a resting 
place in many a day of travel. It is high, regular and commanding and the landscapes 
of the majestic river with its abrupt or gently sloping shores alternating with farm clear- 
ings and woodlands never fail to please the eye of the beholder, and most appropriately 
it was named Belvoir (beautiful to see). But an additional reason for so naming it was 
pleasant associations of Belvoir castle one of the most prominent of the old English cas- 
tles, and one of the finest of the present day. 




The manorial residence which William Fairfax built was one of ample dimensions 
and appointments for that early time. Washington in on« of his diaries incidentally 
tells us that it "'was built of bricks, was of two stories and an atti<: with four conven- 
ient rooms and a wide hall on the lower floor, five rooms and a wide passage on the 
second floor, with spacious cellars and convenient offices, kitchens, quarters for ser- 
vants, coacherie. stables and all other out-buildings needed on a great estate.;" and that 



94 BOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

there was a large garden adjacent, stored with a great variety of fruits all in good 
condition. 

The writer visited the ruins of the home in the spring of 1S94 and traced out, and 
measured the foundations, and found them to be of the following dimensions : the 
foundations of the main building, sixty by thirty-six feet, with walls twenty-seven 
inches thick and cemented with mortar made from oyster shells, which had become ex- 
tremely hard and tenacious. /The cellar had occupied the whole area, and was seven 
feet deep, with partition walls twenty-four inches in thickness, with pavements of 
bricks seven inches square and four inches thick. Outside ot the gable walls were 
heaps of quarry stones, denoting that there had been outside chimneys with large foun- 
dations. Everything about the parts of the walls still left intact, told of massiveness. 
Large trees had grown up from the debris inside of the foundations, and briars every- 
where trailing, gave to the spot a desolate appearance. The mansion had been en- 
closed by a wall of bricks, the wide foundations of which may still be traced through 
their entire extent of one hundred and fifty by one hundred feet. Adjacent are the 
ruins of five other brick buildings, presumably the great kitchen, the coacherie, and 
quarters for the house-servants ; and in front, on the river bank, two hundred feet a- 
bove the rippling tide, were the ruins of the summer house, which had commanded so 
many pleasant views and fair prospects. There is but an acre or so of cleared ground 
about the ruins. This must have been the site of the "garden," for there were thou- 
sands of daffodils waving their golden petals in the morning breeze, just as they had 
done when my Lady Fairfax was wojj to tread those now neglected paths in the long, 
long years before. Through all the times of the coming and going of the many spring 
times, they had faithfully kept up their bright successions, and were yet remaining, si- 
lent mementoes of the kindly care of vanished hands. But every vestige of the choice 
fruit trees, described by Washington had disappeared, saving some veteran pear and 
cherry trees, which were yet thrifty-looking and white with bloom. A grape-vine 
eight inches in diameter was still vigorous by the fallen walls, its branches again put- 
ting forth buds with the return of another spring. The wells, from out of whose cool- 
ing depths so many refreshing draughts had been drawn by the "old oaken bucket" 
for man and beast, were choked and dry. The desolation was complete. But the 
morning sun was shining warm and radiant over it all. The buds of the forest boughs 
were opening into foliage. The glad spring birds were lightly flitting, and chirping 
their songs of love ; and hard by, the rippling waters of the beautiful river, were hur- 
rying on in their seaward course, just as when the watchful eyes and careful hands of 
the masters were there, to order and direct all things aright. 

In the woods near adjoining, rows of sunken mounds indicated the family burial- 
place. A score of graves may still be counted, without stone or vestige of enclosure. 
The marble slabs which had marked the last resting place of William Fairfax and Deb- 
orah, his wife, the first master and mistress, and which had remained intact until a few 
years before the war, had been sacreligiously broken up and carried away. 

The inscription read as follows : 

"HERE REST THE REMAINS OF DEBORAH CLARKE FATRFAX WHO DEPARTED THIS TROUBLESOME LIFE 

ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF 1 747 IN THE SIXTY-SEVENTH YEAR OF HER AGE. 

SHE WAS THE WIDOW OF FRANCIS CLARKE OF NEW SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS COLONY, AND LATE WIFE 
OF WILLIAM FAIRFAX, ESQ., COLLECTOR OF HIS MAJESTY'S CUSTOMS ON THE SOUTH POTOMAC, 

AND ONE OF THE KING'S HONORABLE COUNCIL OF VIRGINIA. IN EVERY STATION OF LIFE 

SHE WAS WORTHY OF IMITATION. A FAITHFUL AND LOVING WIFE. THE BEST OF MOTHERS. 

A SINCERE AND AMIABLE FRIEND. IN ALL RELIGIOUS DUTIES WELL INSTRUCTED AND 

OBSERVANT, AND HAS GONE WHERE ONLY SUCH VIRTUES CAN BE REWARDED." 

The tablet over the grave of the proprietor and master of the homestead who died 
1757 disappeared long before that of the mistress. Some portions of the old enclosure 
were still lying around the burial place and with these the writer improvised a rude 
crossover the remains of the two, as represented in the picture of the place, and gathering 
some wild flowers blooming near by, strewed them about with kindly regard to light up 
for the hour at least, the utter loneliness of the spot. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 95 

Surely this place of sepulture, presenting in its loneliness and neglect so saddening a 
contrast to the kindly, reverential care which has been bestowed by a grateful people 
upon the home and last resting-place of his neighbor and early companion, George 
Washington, deserves a fitting enclosure, and should receive at the hands of friends and 
descendants that care and loving attention which the eminent worth and characters of 
the sleepers there entombed so well deserve. Who then of all Virginians who fondly 
cherish the memories of the ante-revolutionary days and revere the men who were in- 
strumental in evolving their state and national governments from colonial chaos will 
now come forward and initiate a movement for the accomplishment of this object. Not 
only should an inclosure be provided, but a monument to their memory as well. 




GRAVES OF WILLIAM AND DEBORAH FAIRFAX. 

"Where shall once the wanderer weary Or upon some lonely seashore 
Meet his resting-place and shrine : Rest at last beneath the sands ? 

L n.ler palm trees bv the Ganges, 'Tis no matter I God's wide heaven 
Under lindens of the Rhine ? Must surround me there as here : 

Shall I somewhere in the desert And as death lamps o'er me swinging 
Owe my grave to stranger hands ? Ni^ht by night the stars burn clear." 

The old road running down from the mansion to the river's edge over which Wash- 
ington so frequently passed in his visits by water to his friends the Fairfaxes with whom 
he was on the most intimate and cordial relations, may still be traced through a growth 
of pines, oaks and cedars. 

Here at Belvoir in those primitive titnes lived like feudal magnates, the representa- 
tives ot the honorable Fairfax family, who marrying and giving in marriage with other 
noted scions of Virginia, saw their wealth and influence steadily increase as the years 
passed on. 

As we behold the mansion now, in imagination after the lapse of a century and a 
half, with the help of not only Washington's descriptioUj but with that of accounts 
gathered from old inhabitants of the neighborhood, many'^ years since dust, and with 
the .aid of the tracings of the ruins already described, our idea is that of a stately 
manor house, very similar, in outline and finish, to most of the colonial dwellings 
still to be seen in Virginia, down to two generations ago. It has two stories and 
an attic, with steep over jutting roofs, dormer windows, and huge outside chimneys 
of stone. There are belfry, and outlook, and ample verandas, for the summer breezes, 
and views of the near flowing river. Within, the halls and rooms are spacious, with 
high ceilings, wainscoted and panelled walls, and the fireplaces are wide for warmth 
and cheery flames. This is our ideal of the "Belvoir House." There is not only a 



96 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

"fruit garden" as has been stated, with bountiful supply of varieties of fruits, but there 
is a garden of flowers where "my lady Fairfax" has her box-bordered beds of lady-slip- 
pers, sweet-williams, marigolds, shrubs, lilacs, and the like ; and there are winding paths, 
and carriage ways around the mansion, which lead down under the branches of great 
oaks, to the edge of the rippling waters or out into the broad fields adjoining. 

As we see it, it was an inviting retreat, a home where taste and toil had well done 
their parts to beautify and adorn the surroundings. 

The apartments of the house, judging from partial inventories of the household effects 
sold at two public sales in 1774, must have been furnished as comfortably and lux- 
uriously as any "Old England" manor house of that period. The purchases 
made by Col. George Washington in August, 1774, alone amounted to nearly two 
hundred pounds sterling. They were as follows : 

I mahogany shavinr' desk 4/, I settee bed and furniture 13^, 4 mahogany chairs 4/, i chamber car- 
pet l£ IS, I oval glass with gilt frame in the "green room"' 4^" 5s, I mahogany chest and drawers in Mrs. 
Fairfax's chamber 12^ los, I mahogany sideboard 12;^ 5s, I mahogany cistern and stand 4^, I mahogany 
voider, a dish tray and knife tray l£ los ; I Japan bread tray 7s, 12 chairs and 3 window curtains from 
dining room 31 £, l looking glass and gilt frame 13;^ 5s, 2 caudle sticks and a bu>tof Shakespeare i£ 6s, 
3 floor carpets in gentlemen's room 2£ 5s, i large carpet li;^, I mahogany wash desk, &C., I^ 2s od ; I 
mahogany close stool l^ los, 2 matre?ses 4^^ los, I pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, 3^ los ; I 
pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, 3^ 17s 6d ; i pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, l;^ 17s 
6d ; I pair dog, irons in great kitchen 3^^, i hot rache 4^, i roastmg fork 2s 6d, I plate basket 3s, i mahog- 
any spider make tea table i;^ lis, i screen los, I carpet 2^ 15s, i pair bellows and brush lis, 2 window 
curtains 2/^, l large marble mortar 1 ;C is, I hot rache in cellar l£ 7s 6d. 2 mahogany card tables 4.£, 
1 bed, pair of blankets, 19 coverlets, pillows, bolsters and i mahogany table, 11^ ; bottles and pickle pots 
14s, I dozen mountain wine i^ 4s, 4 chariot glasses frames 12s 6d, 12 pewter water plates i^^. 

Another inventory of the Belvoir house furniture is given by Conway in his "Barons of the Potomac." 
This was sold at a public sale in December of 1774. 

In the dining room — I mahogany 5 ft. sideboard table 5;^ 5s, I pair mahogany square card tables ^jC 
5s, I oval cistern on frame 2£ 1 7s, I knife tray 6s, i scalloped mahogany stand 14s, 2 dish trays i£ 12s, i 
large mahogany cut rim tea tray i /^ los, I sconce glass, gilt in burnished gold, 15;,^ ; 12 mahogany chairs 
17^, 12 covers for chairs l^ los, 3 crimson marine drapery curtains il^ 5s, I large wilton Persian carpet 
g/^ 15s, I pair tongs, shovel, dogs and fender 1;,^ lOs. 

In the parlor— I mahogany table and I glass to take off 3^^ 15s, I mahogany spider leg table 2jC 5s. I 
folding fire screene lined with yellow l£ Is, 2 mahogany arm chairs 5;,^ 5s, i chimney glass lO;/;, dogs, 
tongs, shovel and fender, 2jC 14s 6d ; 2 Saxon green plain drapery curtains 5;^. 

In Mrs. Fairfax's chamber — i mahogany chest of drawers S£ los, i bedstead and curtains 8s, window 
curtains 1^155, 4 chairs 3^ 2s, covers for same 8s, I dressing table lO;^, i pair dogs, shovel and 
tongs, i;^ 13s. 

In Col. Fairfax's drawing room— I oval glass in burnished gold 5;,^ los, i mahogany shaving table ^^ 
3s. I mahogany desk, &c., i6;{^ i6s ; 4 chairs and covers 4^ 8s, I mahogany settee bedstead, Saxon green, 
■JjC i8s, covers for same 9s, i mahogany Pembroke table 1/^ l8s, dogs, shovel, tongs and fender, 1/ 13s, 
utensils for kitchen 20;/^. 

Another inventory of many other articles of furniture we omit for want of space. 

As our readers may be curious to know something about the stock of literature in a 
gentleman's library as well as of the style of his household furniture one hundred and 
fifty years ago on the banks of the Potomac, we give the inventory of the books of 
William Fairfax in his Belvoir home as follows: Batavia illustrated, London Magazine, 
7 vols., Parkinson's Herbal, Knolle's History of the Turkish Empire, Coke's Institutes 
of the laws of England, 3 vols., England's Recovery, Laws of the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay, Laws of Merchants, Laws of Virginia, Complete Clerk and Conveyancer, Hawkin's 
Pleas of the Crown, Gunnel's Offences of the Realm of England, Ainsworth's English 
and Latin Dictionary, Haine's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Blackmore's Prince 
Arthur, History of the Twelve Cesars by Suetonius, John Calvin's Institution of Re- 
ligion, Fuller's Church History from its Rise, Locke on the Human Understanding, 
A New Body of Geography, Croope's Law Reports, Heylin's Cosmographv in 4 vols. 
Collection of Voyages and Travels, Political Discourses by Henry, Earl of Monmouth, 
Wooten's State of Christendom, Hobart's Law Reports, Johnson's Excellency of 
Monarchical Government, Latin and French Dictionary, Langley's Pomona or 
Gardening, A Political Piece, Strada's History of the Low Country Wars, Spanish and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 97 

English Dictionary, Latin Bible, A Poem on Death, Judgment and Hell, Knox's 
Martyrology, Jacob's Law Dictionary, Chamberlayne's Great Britain, Hughes's Natural 
History of Barbadoes, Laws of His Majesty's Plantations. The way to get Wealth. 
This, in those early times of bookmaking, was doubtless considered not only an exten- 
sive library, but a learned one for a private home, and may be taken now as an index 
of the general drift and bent of the literary inclinations of the Belvoir Fairfaxes. It 
was all solid reading; though in these days, when styles and tastes in literature are so 
widely different, it would be accounted very dry reading, and not of much value or in- 
terest by the general reader ; and one cannot help speculating now, after the lapse of 
so long a time, how variously, in the mutations of the generations the quaint volumes 
of the collection were scattered after their sale, into what different hands they passed, 
and wheiher any of them aie still in exi-^tence in any library of to-day. Doubtless 
they found their way in the course of years into the lofts and garrets of the surrounding 
neighborhoods, were over and over resold at public auctions and were eventually con- 
sidered as rubbish and went the ways of destruction. 

Lord Thomas Fairfax did not visit the new world until the year 1739, and then he 
did not come with a decided intention of permanently remaining. However, hespenta 
year in examining the country and then returned to England. But he had been so well 
pleased by his Virginia empire, its delightful climate, its virgin freshness and beauty, the 
fertility of its lands and their varied resources, that after settling up his personal affairs, 
disposing of his commission in the "Rojal Blues" and giving to his cousin Robert his 
Kentish estates, he determined to bid a long adieu to the home of his nativity — a 
longer one perhaps than he imagined it would be; for he never recrossed the seas, but 
died forty years afterward, a veritable hermit in the Shenandoah valley^at the extreme 
age of 93 years. For six years he tarried with his cousin and agent, William, in 
the newly erected mansion at Belvoir; and it was during some part of this time that 
he first met the youthful Washington, just fresh from the instruction of "Hobbs" and 
"Williams," who had taught him the mysteries of the three R's and a smattering of 
land surveying and had assured him doubtless that he was then ready to begin the 
great battle of life. And here it was that the great proprietor made a contract with 
the young graduate of fifteen to brave the perils and dangers of a but slightly explored 
wilderness, inhabited by treacherous Indians and half breeds, to assist his cousin, 
George William Fairfax, to survey and map out his remoter possessions in the Shenan- 
doah valley. 

Early in the year 1750 William Fairfax, accompanied by his son in-law, Major John 
Carlvle, of Belle Haven, made a visit to England, from which place he wrote home a 
number of letters still extant, and which would be very interesting reading did space 
allow of their publication here in our story of Belvoir. 

George Wm. Fairfax born as already noticed in Nassau in 1724 succeeded on his 
father's death which occurred in 1757 to his large estate, and he was heir apparent to 
the Barony of Cameron. He had been educated in England as was then the usage 
with the sons of the wealthy colonists. Like his father William he had found favor 
among his neighbors on account of his many estimable qualities and from time to time 
he had served them in various public capacities of trust and honor. 

In 1748 while a member of the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg he became ac- 
quainted with Miss Sarah Carey, daughter of Col. Wilson Carey, and in a letter to his 
cousin Lord Thomas Fairfax he wrote "Dear Cousin Tom, while attending at the 
General Assembly I have had several opportunities of visiting Miss Carey, and finding 
her an amiable person, and to represent all the favorable reports made of her, I address- 
ed myself and having obtained the younglady's and the parents' consent we are to be 
married on the 17th inst." 

In 1773, accompanied by his wife he went to England to look after some property he 
had recently inherited there. They never returned to Virginia, but both died and 
were buried at Bath, England, without issue, he in 1787, she in iSii. 



98 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

On his way over he passed the ships which brought to the colonies the ill-fated 
cargoes of tea which were either burned or cast overboard in the harbors of Boston, 
Annapolis and Bridgeion. ^Vashington consented to act as his agent at home in his 
absence, supposing the agency would be of but short duration. But owing to long de- 
lays in the settlement of his English affairs and the occurrence of the political troubles of 
the colonies, he never returned to Virginia, although it had been his intention to 
do so and rebuild the Belvoir Mansion. He finally directed his agent, George Wash- 
ington to dispose of his household furniture and the stocks and fixtures of the plantation 
and to lease the premises of Belvoir. A. sale was accordingly held on the estate in Au- 
gust, 1774, whichcontinued two days ; and asecond sale was heldin Decemberof the same 
year. The inventories of the articles of the household furnishings as far as can now be 
gathered have already been given. The property was then leased to Rev. Andrew 
Martin, a cousin, for a term of seven years, but in a short time after, the old home was 
destroyed by fire. The owner's long absence and the fact that the place was desolate, 
together with the excitement, and derangement of business incident to the revolutionary 
war, caused the whole estate to rapidly depreciate in value. The long and incessant 
cultivation of tobacco and corn crops, chiefly of the former, had absorbed the virgin 
fertility of the soil, and the broad fields which had formerly been so clamorous with 
the shouts and refrains of the negro gangs, one by one had lapsed back into wilder- 
ness conditions. 

It was very natural that Washington who had been so often a welcome guest in the 
cheerful, hospitable apartments of the now blackened and desolate walls should write 
to a friend shortly after, of his great sorrow whenever he visited the ill-fated place. 
In that letter to one of the Fairfaxes in England he says :"It is a matter of sore regret 
when I cast my eyes toward Belvoir, which I often do, to reflect that the former 
occupanti of it with whom I lived in such harmony and friendship are there no more, 
and that the ruins can only be viewed as the mementoes of former pleasures." 

After the removal of George William Fairfax to England, Washington, in a letter to 
him in June, 1786, thus expressed himself: "Though envy is no part of my nature, 
yet the picture you have drawn of your present home and way of living is enough to 
create a strong desire in me to be a participant in the tranquility and rural amusements 
you have described as your lot. I am getting into the latter as fast as I can, being 
determined to make the remainder of my life easy, let the affairs of it go as they may. 
I am not a little obliged to you fur the assurance of contributing to this by procuring 
for me a buck and a doe of the best English deer; and in regard to the offer of my 
good friend, Mrs. Fairfax, I have to say that I will receive with great pleasure and 
gratitude the seeds of any trees or shrubs she may be pleased to send me which are 
not natives of this country, but reconcilable to its climate; and while my attentions 
are bestowed upon the nurture of them, they would, if anything were necessary to do it, 
remind me of the happy moments I have spent in conveisaiions on this and other sub- 
jects with your lady at Belvoir." 

Early in 1775 ^Vashington relinquished the agency of the Belvoir estate, as his time 
was chiefly absorbed by the pressing duties imposed upon him by the imminence of the 
revolutionary struggle. 

Years ago this estate of Belvoir with its two thousand five hundred acres of good farm- 
ing lands, passed from the hands of the Fairfax family ; and with the exception of about 
two hundred and fifty acres the entire area has lapsed back to a veritable wilderness, 
chiefly of pines and cedars, which have grown up from the ridges, still, everywhere to 
be seen, of the old corn and tobacco crops. Once, nearly every acre of its arable por- 
tions was under tillage, but as the impoverishing process of cropping without remun- 
eration to the soil went on, through the generations, as was so often the case in old 
Virginia, the wornout acres here and there were abandoned to the invasion of the wiry 
sedge grass and wild wood growth. The encroachments were slow but sure, for there 
were no hands to check nor stay their progress. Now, this wilderness is awaiting the 
coming of axes and hoes^and ploughs which, in the hands of capable, industrious, and 
practical settlers, will reverse the order of nature, clear the cumbered lands, turn anew 



OP VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 99 

the kindly furrows, scatter again the seeds, gather again the harvests and build up in 
the wastes, homes of comfort, with gardens and orchards, and all the surroundings 
which make rural life so pleasant and desirable. 

Almost within sight of the National Capital, lying on tide water, and near to the 
line of the new Electric Railway, the realization of all these possibilities cannot, we 
think, be so very remote; and some lover of the picturesque and beautiful, with histor- 
ic pride and veneration for the associations of the "dear, dead past beyond recall," 
which linger around the famous locality by the "grand old river," will, we trust, 
come with ample means and classic taste, and on the foundations of the old Fairfax 
home, erect a structure which will be worthy of the superb situation and the story of 
its memorable events. 

In 1814 what portion of the walls of Belvoir were left standing from the fire, were 
leveled by the shot from the British fleet of General Gordon when retreating down 
the river from the sacking of Alexandria. Little did George William think, such is 
the irony of fate, when at the beginning of the revolutionary struggle, with a leaning 
to the British side of the controversy, he passed out over the threshold of his stately 
home, on his way to England, that it would be soon burned, and that British shot and 
shell would finish up what the flames had left of it to be destroyed. 

George William Fairfax, born 1724, was married to Sarah Carey, daughter of Col. Wil- 
son Carey of Celeys on James lliver, in 1748. A few years before the American Revo- 
lution he and his wife left Belvoir and went to England expecting to return, but never 
did. They died at Bath, he in 1787, she in 181 1. 

The curious wayfarer of our time who strays by the site of the once stately mansion 
of Belvoir will find only fallen walls, blackened hearthstones, mounds of briar grown 
bricks and rubbish, to mark the historic spots where through so many years went on the 
long forgotten routine of domestic events and incidents of colonial life in the Fairfax 
family succession. Of all these events and incidents which would be fraught with so 
much interest to the present generation, only the most fragmentary accounts have come 
down to us through either written record or word of tradition. Only here and there a 
canvas memory — some familiar names, and some wandering, vague report of grace and 
loveliness and gallant exploit. Their failings are lost sight of and'no longer dwell in 
living recollection. Let them so remain, bright images gilded by the sunlight of the 
past and clad in all their halo of romance — with nothing hidden by the distance but 
their human imperfections. We know that in connection with Mount Vernon, this 
home of the Fairfaxes was one of the chief social centres of the tide water region of the 
Old Dominion, with always open doors and a generous hospitality for the coming' 
guest. We know that within its walls our Washington was an oftimes and welcome 
guest. From Mount Vernon it was but'a few minutes' sail or pull with the oars; and 
well he knew how to handle both. ^Here it was that he met the charming Miss Mary 
Carey, sister of Mrs. George Fairfax, and became conscious for the first time in his 
stripling years of the conquering fascinations of female charms, only to be denied after- 
wards the coveted privilege of being a suitor and claimant of the hand and heart ofthe 
youpg lady by the stern and unyielding father, who failed to perceive in the young 
aspirant a prospect of that wealthy and influential alliance which he had contemplated 
for his daughter. "His heiress," said the haughty old cavalier, "had been used to 
riding in her own chariot attended by servitors." The love-lorn youth pressed no 
more his claim after such an unexpected rebuff, and never saw her but once again. 
That was when he nodded to her pallid and fainting visage in a window of the old 
capital of Williamsburg, when he rode through on his triumphal march, with waving 
banners and music playing, from the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. We know 
also that Lord Thomas Fairfax, the proprietor, the scholar and graduate of Oxford, 
and the friend of Addison, the whilom devotee of fashion and gayety in old London 
town, and the jilted and inconsolable lover, was for years a dweller under the same 
roof. We know, too, that in those halls were gravely talked over and considered by 
many great minds of the time, various measures for the public weal in the infant colony, 
preparatory to their proposal and final enactment in the House of Burgesses at the 



100 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



vice-regal capital of Williamsburg. This is all of the story which has come down to us 
through the long lapse of the years. The rest of it for the most part is silent forever 
with the dust of the many actors of those times. Some of it may still be preserved in 
musty letters and other papers in old lofts and garrets, some time, it maj be, to be res- 
cued and unfolded for the curious listener by faithful chroniclers yet to < ome. But in 
our fondness for all such reminiscences of the olden times, we may go back in imagi- 
nation through the dim and shadowy vistas of the past, and giving loose rein to fancy, 



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let it summon up and reincarnate fcr i.is the many other gt?ests of high degree 
who came and went from year to year over those thresholds as social or other occasions 
invited. 

Let us for a time be spectators within those old halls with their massive oaken doors 
and wide fireplaces, and their wainscoted and panrelled walls whereon hang fowling- 
pieces and antlers of the chase, and from which look down ancevtral faces, and appear 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 101 

pictures of old castles and scenes of battle. Many shadowy forms stand out in strange 
outline before our wondering visions. We smile at their quaint costumes and their 
ways of speech, but they are men and women well bred, with courtly manners and 
comely lineaments, and they please us well by their easy dignity and stately demeanor. 
They pass on and vanish. Another group comes up — a group of neighbors and friends 
listening intently to the "freshest advices" by the latest ships just in from London, 
Amsterdam, or Barbadoes to Alexandria or Dumfries, it may have been, after a voyage 
of weeks or months. The London Gazette informs them of the "wars and rumors of 
wars" in Europe, of the campaign in Germany and India, and of the course of hostili- 
ties between England and France ; and precious letters are read telling of how all is 
going with friends they left behind them in the homes so far away over the seas. 

The scene changes. Strains of music are floating on the air, and ladies fair, and gay 
gallants bow gracefully to each other and trip gaily through the mazes of the minuet. 
Meanwhile, as the music and the dance go on, my Lord Thomas sits complacently in 
his easy armchair, attired in velvet coat, and ruff, doublet and silken hose and buckles. 
His dancing days are over, for he has passed his threescore milestone, and his hair is 
well silvered o'er, but he watches intently the gliding figures over the oaken floor, 
and mayhap, his thoughts are far away in halls of Yorkshire or Kent, or old London, 
when in his heyday of life he, too, had tripped so gaily with the giddy girl who had so 
cruelly won his heart and then played him false for another. The old baron is genial 
and kindly to all, and everybody is fond of him and graciously defers to his lineage 
and experience. He chats pleasantly with the guests, delights in their merriment, and 
anon, in drowsy mood, goes nodding, and then passes away to the land of dreams. 
We linger still, and the scene again changes. The blessed Christmas tide comes round. 
The busy note of preparation is rife in ])arlor and kitchen, the hickory yule logs are 
piled and lighted, and their cheery and warming flames go trooping up the great stone 
chimneys into the midwinter night. The holly branches and mistletoe boughs are 
hung on the walls. Genial and convivial friends, young and old, come in from anear 
and afar, and there is full measure of kindly feeling and good cheerand a jocund time 
for all. The bountiful board smokes as in old England's manorial homesteads, with 
savory venison, wild turkey, and the wild boar's head from the surrounding forests. 
As we wait still longer in the shadows of the old mansion we may still give wider range 
to fancy, and call up to view scenes of mirth and rejoicing, as when joyous bridal bells 
were chiming; or scenes of sorrow and mourning, as when funeral bells were tolling. 
And, waiting still longer with the coming and going of the years, we may note the 
passing out over the threshold of the old mansion its master and mistress, to take that 
long voyage across the ocean which was to separate them forever from their Virginia 
home. And yet a little longer we will wait, till the household heirlooms and treasures 
are sold under the hammer of the auctioneer and are scattered widely over the lands, 
and finally, lill that baleful day comes, when those storied walls go down in fire and 
crumble to dust, and there is an end to all the times of glad meetings and good cheer 
— of all the times of song and music and the dance, and of all the kindly greetings and 
farewells at the ancient homestead of Belvoir. 

The years Upon the strong man, and the haughty form 

Have gone, and with them manv a glorious throng Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim — 

Of happy (Ireani'i. Theirmark is cm each brow, They trod the hall of revelry, where throng'd. 

Their shadows in each heart In their swift course The bright and joyous, and the tearful wail 

They vvaved their sceptres o'er the benutifitl. Of stricken ones is heard where erst the song 

And they are not. They laid tlieir pallid hands ' And reckless shout resounded. 

These are only the picturings of fancy, and to many they may seem idle and vague, 
even foolish ; but they are picturings which some of us love to linger over, and are loth 
to let pass from our visions, for they touch responsive chords of our hearts and set 
them to rhythm and accord with all that belongs to those remote but cherished tiires; 
and as the vistas lengthen and grow dimmer we shall but cling to them and love them 
all the more. 

Scattered over the tide- water region of Virginia, are hundreds of such heaps of bricks 
and stones, as those to be seen on the site of the old house of Belvoir we have been de- 



102 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



scribing; and they arrest the attention of the thoughtful passer and tell to him mute 
but pathetic and impressive stories of the past, of rural mansions, of the great Virginia 
estates where culture, refinement, and a generous hospitality abounded. Only a few of 
the typical old buildings remain tor us, and these are passing rapidly from view, and 
the time is not far distant when the last of these landmarks of the vice-regal and revo- 
lutionary times will be no more. 

GREENWAY COURT. 

WHERE LORD THOMAS FAIRFAX LIVED. 

Not far from the little village of Milwood, in the Shenandoah Valley, there stood a 
few years ago an ancient mansion of peculiar interest. It was plainly a relic of the re- 
mote past — quaint in style, and suggestive to the beholder of strange circumstances and 
histories. Tall locusts of a century's growth surrounded it, and waved their spreading 
branches over its steep roof and windows. 

This ancient mansion was 
once the home of an English 
nobleman, who only chanced to 
live in Virginia, and did not 
directly influence to any con- 
siderable measure the events of 
the period in which he was an 
actor. And what, it may be 
asked, had Thomas, Lord Fair- 
fax, Baron of Cameron, the 
sixth of the name, of Greenway 
Court, m the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, to do with the history of 
this era? What did he per- 
form, and why is a place de- 
manded for him in our annals? 
The answer is not difficult. 
With this notable person who 
has passed to his long rest, and 
lies nearly forgotten in the old 
church at Winchester is con- 
nected a name which will never 
be forgotten. His was the high 
mission to shape in no small 
measure the immense strength of 
George Washington. His hand 
pointed attention to the rising 
planet of this great life, and 
opened its career toward the 
zenith — the planet which shines 
now, the polar star of our liber- 
ties, set in the stormy skies of the 
Revolution. The brilliance of 
THOMAS SIXTH LORD KAiKi-Ax. ^^^^ Star no man can now in- 

...... Tin Ai • ^ • crease nor obscure, as no cloud 

From a painting in the Masonic Lodge Room, Alexandria. j- •.. . ■ 

' ^ & > can dmi it, yet, once it was un- 

known, and needed the assistance, which Lord Fairfax afforded. 

Any account of the youth of Washington must involve no small reference to the old 
fox-hunting Baron who took an especial fancy for him when he was a boy of sixteen, 
and greatly aided in developing his capabilities and character. Fairfax not only thus 
shaped by his counsels the unfolding mind of the young man, but placed the future 
leader of the American Revolution in that course of training which hardened his mus- 
cles, toughened his manhood, taught him self-reliance, and gave him that military re- 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 10^ 

pute in the public eye, which secured for him at a comparatively early age the appoint- 
ment of commander-in-chief of the Continentalarmies overall competitors. First and 
last, Fairfax was the fast and continuing friend of Washington, and not even the strug- 
gle for independence in which they espoused opposite sides, operated to weaken this 
regard. In imagination let us look at this old house in which Lord Thomas passed 
about thirty years of his bachelor life. It stands before us on a green knoll — solitary, 
almost, in the great wilderness, and all its surroundings impress us with ideas of pioneer 
life and habits. It is a long, low building, constructed of the limestone of the region. 




> 



A row of dormer windows stands prominently out from its steep over-hanging roof, and 
massive chimneys of stone appear outside of its gables which are studded with coops 
around which swarm swallows and martins. From the ridge of the roof rise two belfries 
or lookouts, constructed probably by the original owner to give the alarm in case of an 
invasion by the savages. Not many paces from the old mansion was a small log house 
in which the eccentric proprietor slept, surrounded by his dogs, of which he was 
passionately fond ;• the large edifice having been assigned to his steward. A smalt 



104 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

cabin of stone near the north end of the house was his office; and in this he trans- 
acted all the business of his vast possessions, giving quit-rents, signing deeds, 
and holding audiences to adjust claims and boundary lines. Scattered over the 
knoll were the quarters for his many servants. And here in the niidst of dogs 
and horses, backwoodsmen, Indians, half-breeds, and squatters, who feasted daily 
at his plentiful board, the fine gentleman of Pall Mall, the friend of Joseph Addison, 
passed more than a quarter of a century. He lived in this frontier locality the life 
of a recluse. He had brought with hiui an ample library of books, and these were 
welcome companionship for him in his solitary hours. Ten thousand acres of land 
around his unpretentious lodge he had alotted for a manorial estate, with the design 
at some time ol erecting upon it a castle for a residence. This design he never exe- 
cuted. 

At the age of twenty- five. Lord Fairfax was one of the gayest of the young men of 
London socfety. He went the rounds of dissipation with the fondest enjo}meni, and 
was considered one of the finest beaux of his day. He was well received by all classes. 
Young noblemen, dissipating rapidly theirpatrimonial substance, found in hima congen- 
ial companion in their intrigues and revels; Countesses permitted him to kiss their 
jewelled hands; and when he made his bow in their drawing-rooms, received him with 
their most patronizing smiles. ^ But our young lord after a time found himself arrested 
in his gay round of pleasures in the haunts of silk stockings and hooped petticoats. 
He had revolved like a gaily-colored moth about many beautiful luminaries without 
singeing his wings, but his hour of fate came. One of the beauties of the tinne trans- 
fixed him. He circled in closer and closer gyrations. His pinions were caught in 
the blaze, and he was a hopeless captive. My Lord Fairfax no longer engaged in re- 
vels or the rounds of dissipation, but like a sensible lover accepted the new conditionf, 
and sought only to make everything ready for a life of real happiness in the nuptials of 
two loving and confiding hearts. He turned resolutely from the frivolous past and 
looked only to the promising future, which he saw as if unfolding something higher 
and mare substantial for his achievement and enjovment. Then the real sweetness and 
depth of his truer nature revealed themselves from beneath the wrappings of dissipation 
and vice. He gave up everything which had pleased him forthis woman ; and'all that 
he now asked was permission to take his affianced away from the dangerous atmosphere 
of the court, and to live with her peacefully as a good nobleman of the provinces. He 
loved her passionately, and wished to discard all who threatened to interfere with the 
exclusive enjoyment of her society. All his resources were taxed to supply the most 
splendid marriage gifts ; and absorbed in this delightful dream of love, his happiness 
was raised to the empyrean. But he was destined to have a sudden awakening from his 
dream, a terrible, almost fatal fall from his cloudland. He had expended the wealth 
of his deep and earnest nature on a coquette — his goddess was a woman simplv — and 
a very shallow one. She threw Fairfax carelessly overboard, and married a nobleman 
who won her by the superior attractions of a ducal coronet. Thus struck doubly in 
his pride and his love, Fairfax looked around him in despair forsome retreat to which 
he might fly and forget in a measure his sorrows. London was hateful to hitn, the 
country no less distasteful. He could not again plunge into the mad whirl of the one, 
nor rust away in the dull routine of the other. His griefs demanded action to dissipate 
them — adventure, new scenes — another land was needed. This process of reflection 
turned the young man's thoughts to the lands in far away Virginia which he held in 
right of his mother, the daughter of Lord Culpeper. to whom they had originally been 
granted ; and finally he bade adieu to England and came over the seas. Such were 
the events in the early lite of this gentleman which brought him to Virginia. 

The house of Belvoir to which Lord Fairfax came was the residence, as has already 
been stated, of William Fairfax his cousin, to whom he had intrusted the manage- 
ment of his Virginia lands. Lawrence Washington, the eldest brother of George had 
married a daughter of William ; and now commences the connection of the already 
aged proprietor and the boy of sixteen who was to lead the armies of the Revolution. 
Washington was a frequent inmate of the Belvoir home, and the boy was the chosen 
companion of the old Lord in his hunting expeditions. In the retkless sports of the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



105 



field the proprietor seemed to find the chief solace for his love-lorn griefs. Time slow- 
ly dissipated his despairing recollections, however, and now, as he approached the 
middle of that century, the dawn of which had witnessed so much of his misery, the 
softer traits of his character returned, and he was to those for whom he felt regard a 
most delightful and instructive companion. Almost every trace of personal attraction, 
though, had left him. Upwards of six feet in stature, gaunt, raw- boned, near-sighted, 
with light grey eyes, and a sharp aquiline nose, he was scarcely recognizable as the ele- 




gant young nobleman of the days of Queen Anne. But time and reflection had mel- 
lowed his mind, and when he pleased, the old gentleman could enchain his hearers 
with brilliant conversation, of which his early training and e^jperience had given him 
very great command. He had seen all the great characters of the period of his youth, 
had watched the unfolding of events and studied their causf.s. All the social history, 
the scandalous chronicles, the private details of celebrated personages had been famil- 



106 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



iar to him, and his conversation thus presented a glowing picture of the past. Some- 
thing of cynical wit still clung to him, and the fireside of Belvoir was the scene of 
much satiric comment between the old nobleman and his cousin William. But Fair- 
fax preserved great fondness for youth, and took especial pleasure in the society of our 
George of Mount Vernon. He not only took him as a companion in his hunts, but 
liked to have the boy with him when he walked out ; and it may be easily understood 
that the talks of the exile had a deep effect upon young Washington. 

The import of Lord Fairfax's connection with the future commander-in-chief lies 
chiefly in the commission which he intrusted to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, his cousin, and Wash- 
ington, the boy of seventeen, that of surveying and laying out his vast possessions in 
the Shenandoah Valley. Providence here as everywhere seemed to have directed the 
movements of man to work out His own special ends. This employment as surveyor on 
the wilderness frontiers was the turning-point in the young man's life, and the results 
of the expedition of three years in its influences on his habits and character, the infor- 
mation and self-reliance it gave him, and the hardships it taught him to endure are 
now the property of history. 

*It is not a part of our design to follow the young surveyor in his expedition which 
led him from Greenway Court to the headwaters of the Potomac where Cumberland 
now stands, and thence into the wilderness of the "Great South Branch," a country as 
wholly unknown as it was fertile and magnificent. He returned to Mount Vernon a 
new being, and the broad foundation of his character was laid. 

The first act of his eventful life had been played— the early lessons of training and 
endurance thoroughly learned — theground work of his subsequent exertions fixed; and the 
prudence, courage, coolness, and determination which he displajed on this arena, made 
him general-in-chief when the crisis came, of the forces of the Revolutionary struggle — 
Lord Fairfax had given him the impetus. From him he had received the direction of 
his genius, and to the attentive student of these early events the conviction becomes 
more and more absolute that Lord Fairfax was the great "influence" of his life. And 
the interest attaching to the career of this noble p.itrou consists chiefly in his connection 
with the life of the rising hero. Having formed 
as we have seen in no small measure the character 
of the boy of seventeen, he lived to receive the 
tidings that this boy had overthrown forever the 
dominion of Great Britain in America on the 
field of Yorktown. So had Providence decreed; 
and the gray haired baron doubtless felt that he 
was only the humble servant in that all powerful 
Hand. 

After Yorktown — after the supreme defeat of 
the proud English general by the lad whom he 
had trained, it was, as he said, "time for him 
to die." 

His death took place in 1781, at the age of 
ninty-two, and his body bes buried in the old 
Episcopal churchyard at Winchester, Va. His 
barony and its prerogatives according to English 
law descended in the absence of a son to his 
eldest brother Robert, who thus became seventh 
Lord Fairfax. The latter died in Leed's Castle, 
England, 1791, without a son. The baronial 
title then fell to Rev. Bryan Fairfax, son of 
William Fairfax then dead, and 'urother in-law of 
Lawrence Washington. „. , „ n „ r- 1.1 > . t r" 

"^ Right lion. F.c'v. Bryan, Iiglitli lord Fairfax, 

His main and last residence in Virginia was curtesy oi m.ss f. m Burke. 




*See ■ Story of Young Surveyors" by author 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 107 

Mount Eagle on a high eminence near Great Hunting Creek, Fairfax county. But 
he had another homestead known as "Towlston Hall," a few miles above Alexandria, 
destroyed by fire just before the Revolution. He became the Eighth Lord in descent, 
and died at Mount Eagle in 1802. He was probably buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery near 
Alexandria. On a tablet in this burial place erected by his granddaughter is the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

In Memoriam. 

Right Hon. Rev. Bry.a.n, Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron 

AND Rector of Christ Church, Fairfax Parish. 

Died .\t Mount Eagle, Aug. 7, 1802, aged 78. 

The Lord forsaketh not the Saints. They are Preserved Forever. 

The last living heir to the title of Lord, in line of descent is Mr. Albert Fairfax of 
New York City. He has become by the recent death of his father, John Contee Fair- 
fax of Mar) land, the twelfth Baron. 

The great landed estates of Lord Thomas Fairfax with their entails were in effect 
confiscated by the success of the American Revolution ; and the legislature of Virginia 
in 1785 passed an act in relation to the Northern Neck, declaring that the landholders 
within said domain "should be forever after exhonerated and discharged from all com- 
positions and quit rents for the same." This was the end of the millions of acres of 
the royal Culpeper patent. 

A daughter of Bryan Fairfax, "Sally," a favorite young friend of Washington, died 
in early womanhood. A son, Thomas, lived beyond the age of eighty and died at 
Vaucliise near Seminary Hill, Va. in 1846, a zealous convert to the doctrines of 
Swedenborg. He was a man of broad and liberal views of human duties. He lib- 
erated all the slaves belonging to his patrimonial estate and was the originator of the 
African colonization society. 

DESCENT OF THE FAIRFAX TITLE. 

The Fairfaxes have been prominent personages during a thousand years of English and American 
history. Coming down through that history we find mention of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton near Otley 
on the banks of the river Wharfe in Yorkshire. His eldest son Thomas was Knighted for distinguished 
service before the city of Rouen in 1594 and in 1625 was created by Charles I, Lord Fairfax, 
Baron of Cameron, in the Scottish peerage His son Ferdlnando became second Lord Fairfax and was 
commander-in-chief of the parlinmcntary forces at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. His son Thomas 
became third Lord Fairfax and was generalissimo of the armies of pirliamenl under Oliver Cromwell in 
the war against the forces of Charles I. His name was on the list of judges to try the King, but he was 
not present at the trial. He died in 167 1 and was succeeded in the title by his cousin Henry, fourth 
Lord Fairfax, of the cavalier branch of the f.\mily. This nobleman's eldest son Thomas, fifth Baron 
Fairfax, was married to Catherine, daughter of Lord Culpeper, and his son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, 
became proprietor of the "Northern Neek" in Virginia. He came to Virginia just previous to 1740 
and lived the rest of his life, chiefly at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley. His cousin Robert in 
England became seventh Lord, Bryan Fairfax son of William of Belvoir became eighth Lord. His son 
Thomas who died at an advanced age in 1846, succeeded to the title as ninth Lord. He was succeeded 
by his grandson Charles Snowden Fairfax, as tenth Lord. The title after his death fell to his brother, 
John Contee Fairfax as eleventh Lord. The last of the line is his son Albert Kirby Fairfax, of New York 
City as twelfth Lord. 

WASHINGTON'S LAST VISIT TO HIS MOTHER. 
HIS MIDNIGHT RIDE. 

He speeds at night when the world is still, A beacon bright as the guiding Star 

Over lonely plain and meadow and hill ; The Eastern Magi sought afar — 

His way is rugged and lonely and dim ; He sees the light of a mother's eyes 

But a friendly beacon is shining for him — Ever before his pathway rise ! 

Early on an April day of 1789 a wearied messenger arrived in haste at the gates of 
Mount Vernon. He had ridden from the city of New York, a distance of over two 
hundred and fifty miles, partly in lumbering stage coaches and partly on horseback 
over a highway abounding in ferries and fording places and much of it very rugged 
and difficult of passage. 

The messenger was the venerable Charles Thompson, secretary of the Continental 
Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He had been 
commissioned by the new Congress under the Federal constitution to announce to Gen- 



108 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

eral Washington in his retirement, that he had been unanimously chosen to be the 
chief magistrate ot the United States. 

The presence of the distinguished chief was urgently desired at the seat of govern- 
ment, and he immediately set himself about the arrangement of his domestic affairs 
preparatory to obeying the important summons. His new duties as president would 
make necessary a long absence from his home, in the distant metropolis, and he must 
hastily make a tour of inspection over his large estate to view the condition of his vari- 
ous plantations, note their prospects for crops and give all needed directions to his 
overlookers, for he was as careful and methodical in the management of his acres as he 
had been in the campaigns of the Revolution. 

But he could not start on the long journey he had to make, until he had performed a 
sacred and very kindly duty. 

Always filial in his disposition and dutiful in his deep emotions of gratitude to the 
American people for their spontaneous expression of their confidence. in his ability to 
again serve them, he did not forget his mother who had ever been to him the kind and 
affectionate counsellor and abiding friend, and who had proved so influential in shaping 
and directing his young inclinations after having been so early bereft of the care and 
parental guidance of his father. She was living at her rural home near Fredericksburg, 
fifty miles distant. Andalthough ithad beenbut a short time since he had looked upon 
her furrowed face and received her blessings, he felt that under the circumstances he must 
now again behold her. She was aged and infirm, and it might be the last opportunity for 
him to see her among the living. So, when the shadows of evening had far lengthen- 
ed and disappeared athwart the fields, he mounted his fleetest horse, and accompanied 
by his faithful servant started on his mission in obedience to the promptings of that in- 
ward monitor which from boyhood he seemed always to have considered decisive. 

Passing the borders of his own pleasant domain he reached the wooded heights of 
Accotink as the last faint rays of the sunset were fading beyond the western hills. It 
was no broad highway that he had taken, with smooth, level tumpiked surface, albeit, 
it was the main stage road, the old "King's Highway" from Williamsburg, the provin- 
cial capital, up through the Northern Neck to the Shenandoah, and the road over which 
the early planters once rolled their tobacco wains, and drove their liveried coaches, or 
clattered fleetly with their thoroughbreds, though it was little better than a bridle path, 
rough and vexatious to the wayfarer. But our rider was no stranger to its gullied ways 
and winding courses, since that time fifty odd years before, when a small boy four or five 
years of age with his father Augustine and his mother Mary, and his little sister Betty 
and his younger brother Samuel, he was brought up in the family carriage from the old 
homestead in Westmoreland to the new home at Epsewasson, two miles below where 
now stands the mansion of Mount Vernon, a home not then established, though it had 
been projected by Augustine the father. Over the same road, thirty years before, when 
a young man of twenty-eight, he had ridden in his coach and four from Williamsburg 
with his bride, the widow Martha Cusiis to her new home at Mount Vernon. 

Through the chill and lonely hours of the night did our Washington with the one 
great and controlling purpose in view ride on and on to his destination, sometimes 
through plantation clearing or straggling hamlet, and sometimes through stretches of 
woodland, fording or ferrying the many streams now deep and full with the spring 
time freshets. 

At Colchester, eight miles away he drew in his horse's rein and tarried awhile for re- 
freshments for man and beast, with mine host of the "Arms of Fairfax" a hostelry still 
standing solitary in the wastes of the vanished town. When he again mounted his 
horse and clattered down the street of the drowsy hamlet to the banks of the Occoquan, 
the ferryman made haste to set the distinguished wayfarer over the swiftly flowing 
stream, as many a time he had done before, and bid him speed over the hills and val- 
leys of Prince William. 

On and on he pursues his solitary way. He leaves behind him the highlands of ro- 
mantic Occoquan, and the roaring of its cascades die away in the distance. He cross- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 109 

es the waters of the Neabsco, Quantico, Choppawamsic, Aquia, and Potomac creeks 
into the sandy lowlands of Stafford and Spotts) Ivania. 

As he sped fast through the watches of the night with no token or sound of life to re- 
lieve the stillness of the surroundings save here and there the glimmering light in lonely 
farm house or negro cabin, or the baying of watch dog or croaking of frog in the way- 
side fen, how profound and varied must have been the thoughts that drifted through 
the mind of the great man. 

For thirty years he had been prominently connected with the history of the colonies, 
had been through many years a member of the Virginia Assembly, had been a member 
of the Continental Congress, had been conspicuously instrumental with other compat- 
riots in developing and successfully directing the spirit of independence under the op- 
pressive measures of Great Britain, had been commander-in-chief of the victorious 
American armies in the Revolution, and now was to be first President of the United 
States. 

The road he passed over was historic. In 1676 the armed rangers and colonists, of 
the Bacon Rebellion under the lead of his own great grandfather Col. John Washington 
had hurried to their bloody work at Assaomeck and Piscataway. Over a portion of it 
in 1 716 had clattered the Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe under the gallant Spotts- 
wood to open a way for the white man through the AUeghanies to the great West. 
Later, in 1740, Virginia's contingent of provincials passed over it to join the forces of 
Admiral Vernon fighting the Spaniards at Carthagena. Then in 1755 it had seen the 
passing of other Virginia troops on their way with Braddock to fight the French and 
Indians on the banks of the Ohio, and in 1781 it was gay and noisy with the "conti- 
nentalers" going to and from Yoiktown. 

Before the early dawn, Washington had finished his journey, and damp with the 
night airs, was standing at the gate of the maternal home on the borders of the Rappa- 
hannock. Of the notable interview between the honored chief and his aged mother, 
George Washington Parke Custis, his adopted son, has left us this enthusiastic and inter- 
esting narrative. 

"The President had come all unheralded and unannounced. After their first moment 
of greeting he said, 'Mother, the people of our republic have been pleased with the 
most flattering unanimity to elect me their chief magistrate, but before I can assume 
the functions of the office, I have come hastily to bid you an affectionate farewell, and 
to ask your maternal blessings. So soon as the weight of public business which must 
necessarily attend the beginnings of a new government, can be disposed of, I shall 
hasten back to Virginia' — and here the matron interrupted him with — 'And then you 
will not see me. My great age and the disease which is fast hastening my dissolution 
warn me that I shall not remain long in this world -. and I trust in God that I may be 
better prepared for another. But go George and fulfill the destiny which heaven ap- 
pears to have intended for you. Go, my son and may God's and a mother's blessing be 
with you to the end !' The President was deeply moved. His head rested fondly on 
the shoulder of his parent whose aged arm feebly but affectionately encircled his neck. 
Then tlie brow on which fame had wreathed the fairest laurels ever accorded to man, 
relaxed from its Inftly bearing. That look which could have overawed a Roman Sen- 
ate, was bent in filial tenderness upon the time worn features of the faltering matron. 

He wept ! — a'thousand recollections crowded upon his mind as memory retracing 
scenes long past, carried him back to the lowly homestead of his youth in Westmore- 
land where he beheld that mother whose care, education and discipline had enabled 
him to reach to the topmost height of laudable ambition. Yet how were his glories 
forgotten in the moment, his exploits and his victories, while he gazed upon her from 
whom he was soon to part to meet no more. Her premonition's were but too true. 
She passed away from earth in August of the same year, 1789, at the age of eighty-five." 

Passing from the dear pathetic presence, and hurriedly retracing his way, next morn- 
ing, back to Mount Vernon, the President elect, perhaps did not hear the plaudits in 
the streets of Federicksburg. He rode all day and reached his home before evening. 



110 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

having exhibited his powers of endurance at the age of fifty-seven, by riding over eighty 
miles in twenty-four hours. His good wife Martha in his absence had busied herself in 
making ready the necessary traveling equipage, and on the following morning, April 
i6th, the President set out for New York, then the seat of the new Government. 

GUNSTON, THE HOME OF GEORGE MASON. 

"Twas an old colonial palace Through the thrilling land ; 

Ere that brazen boom In those days it was a great house, 

Thunder'd Freedom from the State House Spacious, feudal, grand." 

The next place of historic interest below the Fairfax home of Belvoir on the Poto- 
mac,- is an estate which in its original entirety contained seven thousand acres and be- 
longed in the colonial days to Col. George Mason, the distinguished patriot, whose 
name is verv prominent in early Virginia history, and especially in that portion of it 
which relates to the Revolutionary contest. He was not a soldier and had no aspira- 
tions for official dignity and honor, but he was a thinker and a most forceful writer, 
and better than all, a man ot correct principles and honest purposes. 

On one of the commanding situations of his manorial domain he erected in 1758, a 
pretentious dwelling where for thirty-four years he lived in almost princely style, dis- 
pensing a generous hospitality to his wide circle of acquaintances in the colonies and 
devoting his time to his broad acres, the pursuits of literature, the promotion of neigh- 
borhood improvements and the dissemination of his liberal and popular ideas of colon- 
ial independence. 

The founder of the Virginia family of Masons of whom George Mason, the builder of 
Gunston Hall and fifth in line of descent, was a member of the long parliament dis- 
solved by Oliver Cromwell in the reign of Charles the first of England. Like Hyde 
and Falkland, though fully committed to the reformation of many of the then existing 
evils of the royal prerogative, he did not favor the overthrow of the monarchy; for 
when the two great factions of the kingdom came into armed conflict he organized a 
military body to defend his king against the measures of Cromwell and his party. 

After the disastrous battle of Worcester which sealed the fate of Charles, MasOn fled 
in disguise with many others of the royal adherents from the English realm, and in 
1651 found refuge in the province of Virginia, whither his family soon after followed 
him. He settled first in the county of Norfolk, but later moved to Pasbitansy on 
Acohic creek near the Potomac where he died and was buried. 

In 1676, theyear of Bacon's Rebellion, he commanded a force against the Indians and 
represented the same year the county of Stafford in the Hotise of Burgesses. Stafford 
was carved out of Westmoreland the year before, and was so named by Mason in honor 
of his native county of Staffordshire, England. His eldest son, also called George, was 
married to Mary, daughter of Gerrard Fowke of Gunston Hall, Staffordshire, England. 
The eldest son by this marriage also bore the name of George, the third of this name, 
and like his father, lived and was buried on the patrimonial estate ot Acohic. Their 
wills were recorded in Stafford county Court in 1710 and 1715 respectively. 

George Mason the fourth in descent and eldest son of the last named, married a 
daughter of Stevens Mason of Middle Temple, attorney general of the colony of Vir- 
ginia in the reign of Queen Anne. He established a plantation in Dogue Neck on 
the Potomac, then in Stafford, now in Fairfax, on land which he had inherited, and was 
the Lieutenant and chief commander of the county of Stafford, in 1719. He was 
drowned by the upsetting of his sail boat. He left three children, two sons and a 
daughter, of these two sons one was George Mason of the Virginia convention and the 
other Thomson, hardly less celebrated than his brother, who settled in Loudoun county 
and was frequently a member of the Assembly, an eminent lawyer and a true patrii>t. 
His son, Stevens Thomson Mason was a member of the Virginia convention which 
ad)pted the Federal Constitution, and was a United States Senator as was also his son 
Ar-nistead. 

George Mason of the text, the fifth of the name, was born in 1725, seven years be- 



OP VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. HI 

fore Washington. At the age of twenty-five he was married to Anne Eilbeck of 
Maryland, aged sixteen. This was in 1750. She was said to have been a very eslinia- 
ble woman. She died at the age ot thirty-nine leaving children, George, Anne, Wil- 




112 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



liam, Thomson, Mary, Daniel, Sarah, John and Elizabeth. Of the sons, George, and 
Thomson of Hollin Hall served in the Continental Army, Thomson settled in Loudoun 
county,' The last surviving son of John, lived on Analostan Island opposite to George- 
town. He was the father of James Murray Mason who for years was United States 




"Hi .ill ihi,hii|i!'lll 



;:? :lrl 



yt 




-•/i^T^l^f 



Senator from Virginia ; who figured with Slidell in the famous Trent affair and was after- 
wards confederate commissioner to England. He died at Clermont, Fairfax county, 
1849 ^E>^^ 43 years. 



His eldest daughter by his second wife became the wife of Samuel 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 113 

Cooper, Adjutant Generalof the Confederate Army. Another daughtermarried S. Smith 
Lee, brother of Robert E, Lee and was the mother of General Fitzhugh Lee. 

Col. George Mason was twice married. His second wife was named Brent but of 
this alliance there was no issue. His last years were made miserable by chronic gout. 
He died in 1792 and was buried in the family grave yard at Gunston, but no stone was 
set to mark his grave until a hundred years afterward. In 1S96 through the instrumen- 
tality of the "Sons of the Revolution" a small granite shaft was erected to the memory 
of the distinguished statesman and patriot. 

George Mason was one of the best and purest men of his time, and possessed the con- 
fidence of those younger civilians, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, whose opinions he did 
much to mould and shape along the lines which led to American Independence. He 
was a near neighbor to Washington and the Fairfaxes, and on the most intimate terms 
with them. In 1776 we find him writing to his agent in London a powerful statement 
of the wrongs -inflicted by the mother government upon the colonies; and about the 
same time appeared his masterly exposition of "colonial rights," entitled "Extracts 
from the Virginia charters, with remarks upon them." In 1769 he drafted the "Arti- 
cles of Association" against importing British goods, which the Burgesses signed in a 
body on their dissolution by Lord Botetourt; and in 1774 he drew up the celebrated 
Fairfax county resolutions, upon the attitude to be assumed by Virginia. In 1776 he 
was elected to represent his county in the convention of that year, and drew up the 
"Bill of Rights" already alluded to which was adopted. Jefferson, then in Philadel- 
phia, had written "a preamble and sketch" to be offered, but Mason's had been re- 
ported, and the final vote was about to be taken when it arrived. Mason's bill was 
therefore adopted, but Jefferson's "preamble" was attached to the Constitution. Ma- 
son sat afterwards in the Assembly, and supported Jefferson in his great reforms of 
organic laws, such as the cutting off of entails, the abolishing of primogeniture, and the 
overthrow of church establishments. The disinterested public spirit of the man may 
be inferred from the fact that, by birth and education, he belonged to the dominant 
class and to the Episcopal Church. He also advocated the bill forbidding the further 
importation of slaves, in 1778, and ten years afterwards sat in the Convention to decide 
on the adoption or rejection of the Federal Constitution. He was elected one of 
the Senators for Virginia, but declined the honor on account of pressing home 
duties, and continued to reside on his Gunston estate. In the much admired group 
of sculptured heroes and statesmen which adorns State House Square in Richmond, his 
statue is conspicuous. 

George Mason with all his force of intellect; with his correct judgment of the pur- 
poses and actions of men, with his fine perceptions of right and wrong among individ- 
uals, communities and nations, which won for him the approval and admiration of all 
among whom he moved, and with his fitness for any position of public trust and confi- 
dence, was remarkably modest and unassuming. He was domestic in his attachments 
and inclinations, and cared more for the enjoyments of his, home life than for the en- 
vied circumstances, often vexatious and forbidding which surround the politician and 
legislator. By his own fireside in the midst of his family circle in his own manorial 
halls was ihe yjlace of all others most dear to him. But wiihal, he was no recluse. He 
went often out from his fireside and circle and mingled freely with his friends at church 
at elections, at barbacues, and on other social occasions, and he loved to have them 
come and share under the roof of Gunston his large and cordial hospitalities. His library 
was extensive and varied for the time, and in it be found perennial delights. He was 
not a learned man according to the common acceptation of the term, but his knowledge 
of the world so far as he had delved and studied was very correct and practical. He 
was not an orator and never indulged in lofty flights of language to carry convictions 
but he had been endowed with a great store of strong common sense which he put forc- 
ibly into all the phrases of his public addresses and documents. He had an abiding 
interest in the affairs of his county and parish, and he co-operated earnestly with the 
founders of the towns of Alexandria and Colchester, the first stones of both of which he 
had seen laid in the wilderness. 

Letters of this sterling patriot to his children have been preserved and are replete 



114 SOME OLD HISTOEIC LANDMARKS 

with good advice and parental solicitude. One of them, a sample of them all, to his son 
John, a merchant in Bordeaux, France, and to whom he consigned cargoes of his planta- 
tion products, closes as follows: "Diligence, frugality and integrity will infallibly in- 
sure your business, and your fortunes. And if you content jourself with moderate 
things at first you will rise, perhaps by slow degrees, but upon a solid foundation." 

In his last will and testament he thus charges his sons: "I recommend to you from 
my own experience in life, to prefer the happiness of independence and a private station 
to the struggles and vexations of public business; but if either your own inclinations or 
the necessities of the times should engage you in public affairs, I charge you on a 
father's blessing, never to let'the motives of private interest nor ambition induce you to 
betray, nor terrors of poverty nor disgrace nor fear of danger nor of death deter you from 
asserting the liberty of your country, and endeavoring to transmit to your country's 
posterity those sacred rights to which you were born." 

George Mason held many slaves, for he had numerous plantations under cultivation, 
requiring a vast amount of labor, and his exports of grain and tobacco to foreign mark- 
ets were on a large scale, but like his neighbors Washington and Jefferson he deplored 
the existence of the system in the colonies, for he foresaw clearly the consequences of 
its workings in the generations which were to come after him. He said in the Virginia 
convention: "This infernal traffic originated in the avarice of the British merchants. 
The British government constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. 
The present question concerns not the importing states alone but the whole union. 
Maryland and Virginia have already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly. 
North Carolina has done the same in substance. All this would be in vain if South 
Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to import them. The western people are already 
calling out for slaves for their new lands and will fill their country with them if they 
can be got through those two states. Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The 
poor despise labor when it is performed by slaves. They prevent the migration of 
whites who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious 
effect upon manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the 
judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations can not be rewarded nor punished in 
the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects 
Providence punishes national sins by national calamines. I regret that some of our 
Eastern brethren have from a love of gain embarked in this nefarious traffic. I hold it 
essential in every point of view that the general government should have the power to 
prevent the increase of slavery." What his ideas of religious toleration were, may be 
learned from the last article in his Bill of rights. "Religion, or the duty we owe to" 
our Creator and the manner of discharging it, tan be directed onlv by reason and con- 
viction — not by force nor violence ; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the ex- 
ercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that it is the mutual duty 
of all to practice christian forbearance, love and charity towards earh other" — Mason 
was a member of the church of England but his influences were for its disestablishment. 

Gunston Hall is one of the very few colonial dwelling places of the upper Potomac 
tide water region which are still standing as in the past, one stone upon another. But 
it has shared a better fate than the most of them, thanks to its enduring mateiials of 
construction and to two of its proprietors since the civil war. Col. Edward Daniels 
and Mr. Joseph Specht ; it is now in as good condition as in the days of its builder and 
first master. Not only its interior of spacious apartments with their high ceilings, 
wainscotings and elaborate stairways have been put in pleasing order, but its exterior 
of quaint roofs and gables, and dormer windows and tall chimneys has been well cared 
for. The manorial domain of seven thousand acres which once belonged to it has 
dwindled down to only a few hundred. Long may the old historic landmark contin- 
ue through the mutations of time to call up to coming generations memories of a ster- 
ling, self sacrificing patriot whose potent influences in the shaping of the beginnings of 
our republic have never been sufficiently understood and recognized. 

The patriotic and curious pilgrim who wishes to visit this colonial shrine can board 
the steamer w-hich plies daily between Washington and Mount Vernon. Or if he pre- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 115 

fers going leisurely by land, he can in carriage take the old King's Highway at Alex- 
andria and visit in his way of eighteen miles, Mount Vernon, Washington's old mill 
at Epsewasson, Woodlawn, Belvoir and the little hamlet of Accotink at the head of 
Accotink Bay where in the hostelry of "Royal George," long since gone to ruin, Wash- 
ington often met his neighbors after a barbecue or fox chase. The site of the van- 
ished town of Colchester on the Occoquan, seven miles below Mount Vernon will 
well repay a visit. 

The following lines were written by a sojourner under Gunston roof on a Christmas 
night a few years ago. 

I sat in Gunston Hall ;^ 1 saw the hearth-stone blaze, Each captive husband vied 

Griiii shadows on the wall As in colonial days, With lover by his side 

Around me pressed, In this old hall; To own her sway 

As memories of the past With beauty flashing high, Who practised less the art 

Came crowding thick and fast. And gallants thronging nigh, To win than keep a heart 

And to my mind, at last. As if some love-lit eye That once to Cupid's dart 

Their theme adressed. Held them in thrall. Had fallen prey ; 

Back from the shadowy land They seemed to grow apace While wives with sweethearts strove 

They pressed, a noble band, Like old Antenor's race. To keep the torch of love 

A stalwart race;— Of Trojan fame. In constant flame, 

I sa.v them come and go. Or men of lofty state, That, like sweet Omphale, 

As if they thought to show On whom the good and great They might retain their sway 

Their stately grandeui to Bestowed their utmost weight And yet their lords obey 

My mind apace. Of honored name. By rightfid claim. 

From wall and ceiling high, Then prouder forms were seen. So passed the shadowy throng, 

And ancient panel nigh, Of more majestic mien, — In misty group along. 

Their faces showed. Those grand old knights, As fancy played, 

I marked them, one and all. Whose sires at Runnymede Or pictured, one by one. 

Majestic, grand, and tall. Stocked England with a breed These spectral scenes upon 

As from the corniced wall Of men that made kings heed My mind, as night wore oa 

Their shadows strode. Their subjects rights With deep'nmg shade. 

Then hall and mansion wide Their spectral grandeur showed And as my eyelids fell 

They filled on every side. In every step they Irode They grew more palpable 

With phantoms grand; Through ancient hall, These spectres grand, 

While, at the outer gate. While women held their place That still, in Gunston Hall, 

Pressed carriages of stale. Supreme in every grace Hold nightly carnival. 

With spectral steeds to mate With which the Gothic race As fancy stirs withal 

The shadowy band. Invests them all. Her conjurer's wand. 

1 The Gunston estate was divided into the following named "quarters" or "plantations" 
Gunston, Occoquan, Pohick, Stump Neck, Hallowing Point, Dogue Run, and Hunting 
Creek. From these places the exports of grain and tobacco were large for many years 
after their clearing of the original growth of heavy timber. But other commodities 
were produced as appears from an account book of the proprietor before us, such as 
beef, tanned hides and wool. Of the last named article there are the following entries : 

1789 167 fleeces 30,7 p'jg. 

"90 164 " 398 " 

"91 166 " 384 " 

"92 171 " 458 " 

George Mason, like his neighbor Washington, was orderly and methodical in all his 
business affairs, and his integrity in his dealings is a fact well established. 

GUN.STON HALL RESTORED. 

"Whatever was in condition to remain as it was originally, siands to-day, voicing in more eloquent lan- 
guage than could be conveyed by the most fervent patriot the spirit of the past. Thus the long, worn 
flights of sand stone steps leading to the porched entrances on the north and south fronts of the mansion, the 
most beautiful external features of the house, have weathered the hundred and fifty years that they have 
stood and are now battered and hollow with age and long use. 

The principal entrance to the house is on the north side, and is made through a large, square porch, 
solidly built of brick and stone, with a peaked roof, supported in front by four Doric pillars of stone. 
The front door is crowned by a lunette of glass that corresponds to the arched front of the porch, and on 
either side are narrow hall windows. The southern portico is a smaller, octagonal structure, quite classic 
in its grace of form. In this picturesque retreat, doubtless, Colonel Mason was wont to entertain his dis- 
tinguished guests of a summer evening, where they might rest and be refreshed by the cool breezes arising 
from the quiet waters of Pohick Bay, as it was then called, now Gunston Cove, not many yards below". 



116 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

This porch is said to have been a favorite spot, too, for a quiet turn at draughts between Washington 
and Mason. 

The mansion is built of bricks that were imported from Scotland, and its walls, interior as well as 
exterior, have the thickness of three of these very large blocks. It is surmounted by a long, sweeping 
Virginia roof, that gives slope to the walls of the chambers in the second story, and necessitates the quaint 
dormer windows that are an added feature of attraction. Four immense brick chimneys rear themselves 
high above the roof, from the four corners of which they spring, though they have their bases in the im- 
mense cellar that runs beneath the entire house. The present owner of the mansion has built a tall 
observation tower on the top of the house, sacrificing somewhat the architectural harmony of the structure 
to the pleasure of enjoying the inimitable landscape spread before one for miles below. 

INTERIOR OF THE HALL. 

Within, the house has the admirable features of the best of the Southern mansions of its time, the 
wide hall running across the entire breadth of the house, broken only by a tine broad staircase ascending 
atone side, and in this case relieved half way down its length of wall on either side by a carved panel 
reaching from floor to cornice, where they form themselves into two graceful arches, that meet in the 
centre of the ceiling in a drop in the form of a huge acorn carved in wood. From both sides of the hall 
enter the chief rooms of the house, the doors curiously low in proportion to the height of the walls, with 
deep panelled casements, and opening into four apartments of fine dimensions. 

On the right of the main entrance is what is known as the Jefft-rson room, as here there is reason to 
believe that Thomas Jefferson consulted and talked over with his friend and settled many a question that 
is embodied in this country's laws, giving more than reasonable indorsement to the popular belief that in 
this room the American Declaration of Independence was practically framed. The room is at present 
modernly furnished with the elegant appointments of a lady's boudoir, being the sitting room of the 
daughter of the house, but its most prominent ornament withal is a fine bust of the third President of the 
United States. 

HISTORIC WHITE PARLOR. 

On the south side, and communicating with this room, is the handsomest apartment in the mansion, and 
is the room in which all affairs of e-pccial ceremony took place. It has been alluded to as the White 
• Parlor, taking the name from the ivory white woodwork in which it is finished. '1 his woodwork is of 
particular note, being of a character in its elaborate hand carving and solidity that is not often reproduced 
today. However, the wood fitments of Gunston Hall arc one of its notable features. George Mason 
brought over from England several workmen to erect and decorate the woodwork throughout his house, 
and they spent three years in accomplishing the task. The two doors in the White Parlor, its two large 
windows, and the recesses on either side of the big square open fire place are all incased in broad, 
fluted, square pilasters with frontals decorated after the chaste Doric desi^^ns. The ht-avy panelled doors 
are also finished with classic scrolls. A Northern architect visiting Gunston Hall not long since — 
fortunately it was not belore the arrest of its decay — offered $2,000 for the woodwork of this room, which 
he had an ardent desire to transfer to a colonial mansion he was erecting near Boston. 

The plainer, though very handsome woodwork in wainscoting, cornices, doors, mantel and window 
frames, and otherwise finishing of the mansion's stately dining room, situated across the hall from the 
White Parlor, has an appropriate finish of oak graining. As one sits at the characteristically hos]ntable 
board of (iunston Hall, thought irresistibly travels back to former guests who have been regaled in this 
room. They present an imposing array — the great Washinj^ton himself frequently came over from Mount 
Vernon, six miles away ; Jefferson was a very frequent Gunston Hall s;uest ; Adams, Madison, and 
Monroe, who was a political pupil of. Mason; Randolph and Henry visited it ; also the gallant La- 
fayette ; and Geneial Green, in fact, all the notable statesmen of the time were guests at one time or 
another of this "Solon and Cato," the law giver and the stern patriot of the age in which he lived. 

The library, occupying the north front of the house, is again handsomely finished in dark, carved wood, 
with deep, glass inclosed alcoves in the east wall filled with shelving for books. 

Ascending the beautiful stairway, with its graceful, hand turned, mahogany balustrade, one is surprised 
to find on turning to the second flight, over the broad hallway at its head, a series of graceful arches sup- 
ported by square fluted pillars. A broad hallway runs from end to end on this floor between the rows of 
chambers on either side, each with its nidividual feature of quaintness and beauty. The room occupied 
by Lafayette when he visited Gunston Hall is that situated in the southwest corner, with two small 
gable windows gathering all the possible warmth from the late sun, and its dormer window commanding 
a fine view of the sloping lawns below and the peaceful Potomac in the ncr distance.'' 

The "Princeton" Catastrophe— Bursting of the "Peacemaker." 

On the 28th of February, 1844, a large party ofladiesand gentlemen of Washington 
including President Tyler and the members of his Cabinet with their families, were in- 
vited by Commodore Stockton, of the navy, to pass the day on the frigate "Princeton" 
lying at anchor off the city of Alexandria. The day was fine and the company num- 
erous and brilliant, not fewer than four hundred in number of whom the majority were. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 117 

ladies. After the arrival of the guests the "Princeton" got under way and proceeded 
down the river a short distance beiow Fort Washington. During the passage down, 
the largest gun of the vessel, the "Peacemaker," firing a ball of two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds, was fired several times to test its strength and capacity. The gun 
had been constructed from a model of, and under the immediate direction of the 
commodore, and Mr. Tyler had manifested a great interest in its success. At two p. m. 
the ladies of the party were invited to a sumptuous repast in the cabin. The gentle- 
men succeeded them at the table, and some of them had got through and left it. The ship 
was on her return to her anchorage, and when opposite Broad Bay, the commander 
proposed, for the special gratification of the President and hi? Cabmet, to fire the gun 
again, a salute, as he said, in honor of the "great peacemaker" of his country — George 
Washington. Accordingly, all the members of the Cabinet started to go upstairs, the 
President with them, but at that instant they were called back to hear a toast proposed 
by Miss Wickliffe. It was this: "The flag of the United States, the only thing Amer- 
ican that will bear a stripe." This was received with great enthusiasm. The Pres- 
ident in response then gave as a toast, "the three great guns, — the 'Princeton,' her 
commander, and his 'Peacemaker,' This was loudly applauded by the ladies and 
then the members of the Cabinet started to go upstairs again. At this moment, Mr. 
Upshur, of Virginia, Secretary of State, had his hand on the President's arm and said 
to him, "Come Mr. Tyler, let's go up and see the gun fired," Just then Colonel 
Dade asked Mr. Waller, the President's son-in-law, to sing an old song about 1776, 
The President replied, "No, by George, Upshur, I must stay and hear that song; it is 
an old favorite of mine. You go up, and I'll join you directly." Accordingly, away 
went Upshur, Gilmer, and the others to see the gun fired. Messrs. Benton, Phelps, 
Hannegan, Jarnegan, Virgil Maxey, Commodore Kennon, Colonel Gardiner, and 
many others following. The President remained below, listening to the singing, and 
just as Mr. Waller came to the name of Washington, off went the gun. "There," said 
the master of ceremonies, "that's in honor of the name, and now for three cheers." 
And just as they were about to give them, a boatswain's mate rushed into the cabin be- 
grimed with powder and said that the "big gun" had exploded and killed many of 
those on deck. On this announcement the shrieks and agonizing cries of the women 
were heart-rending, — all calling for their husbands, fathers, brothers, and so on, rush- 
ing wildly into their arms and fainting with the excess of feeling. When the gun was 
fired the whole ship shook, and a dense cloud of smoke enveloped the entire group on 
the forecastle, but when this blew away an awful scene presented itself to the spectator. 

The lower part of the gun, from the trunnions to the breech, was blown off, and one 
half section of it was lying on Mr. Upshur. It took two sailors to remove it. Mr. 
Upshur was badly cut over the eye and on his legs; his clothes were literally torn from 
his body, he expired in about three minutes. Governor Gilmer of Virginia, was 
found to be equally badly injured. He had evidently been struck by the section of the 
gun before it had reached Mr. Upshur. Mr. Sykes, member of Congress from Nevr 
Jersey, endeavored to raise him from the floor, but was unable. A mattress was brought 
for him, but he soon expired. Mr. Maxey, of Maryland, had his arms and one of his 
legs cut off. the pieces of flesh hanging to his mutilated limbs, cold and bloodless in a 
manner truly friglitful. He died instantly. Mr. Gardiner, ex-member from New York, 
and Commodore Kennon, lingered about half an hour, unconscious, and expired with- 
out a groan. The fl igs of the Union were placed over the dead bodies as their wind- 
ing sheets. Behind the gun, the scene, though at first equally distressing, was less a- 
larming. Commodore Stockton who was knocked down, rose to his feet and 
jumped on to the wooden carriage to survey the effects of the calamity. All the hair 
of his head and face was burned off. Judge Phelps, of Vermont, had his hat blown off". 
Nine seamen were seriously wounded and Colonel Benton and many others were stun- 
ned by the explosion. Such was the force of it that the starboard and larboard bul- 
warks of the ship were shattered and the gun blown into many pieces. 

Judge Wilkins had taken his stand by the side of Governor Gilmer but some remarks 
falling from the lips of the latter, and perceiving that the gun was about to be fired he 
explained, "though Secretary of War, I dont like this firing, and believe that I shall 



118 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

run," so saying he retreated, suiting the action to the word, and escaped injury. The 
most heart-rending scene, however, was that which followed. The two daughters of 
Mr. Gardiner, of New York, were both on board and lamenting the death of their father 
while Mrs. Gilmer from whom they vainly atterripted to keep the dreadful news of the 
death of her husband, presented truly a spectacle fit to be depicted by a tragedian. 
There she sa on deck, with hair dishevelled, pale as death, struggling with her feelings 
and with the dignity of a woman, her lips quivering, her eyes fixed and upturned, with- 
out a tear, soliloquizing, "Oh certainly not ! Mr. Gilmer cannot be dead I Who could 
dare to injure him ? Yes, O Lord have mercy upon me ! O Lord, have mercy upon 
him !" And then, still more apparently calm and seeming to be collected, with the 
furies tearing her heart within, "I beseech you, gentlemen, to tell me where my husband 
is? Oh! impossible, impossible! can he, can he, can he be dead? Impossible!" 
Here Senator Rives of Virginia, drew near. "Come near, Mr. Rives," she said in 
a soft whisper, which resenibled Ophelia's madness, "tell me where my husband is — tell 
me if he is dead. Now certainly, Mr. Rives, this is impossible." Mr. Rives stood 
speechless, the tears trickling down his cheeks. "I tell you Mr. Rives, it is impossible," 
she almost shrieked; and then again moderating her voice, "Now do tell his wife if 
her husband lives!" Here several ladies exclaimed, "God grant that she may be able 
to cry; it would relieve her — if not, she must die of a broken heart." 

A daughter of Mr. Gardiner, one of the victims of the ill-fated party and to whom 
the President was paying attention, and who in the following June became his wife, 
gave the following relation a few years ago. "When we got down to the collation 
served in the cabin the President seated me at the head of the table with him and handed 
me a glass of champagne. My father was standing just back of my chair so I 
handed the glass over my shoulder, saying, 'Here, pa.' He did not take it but said 
•My time will come.' He meant his 'time to be served,' but the words always seemed 
to me prophetic. That moment, some one called down to the President to come to see 
the last shot fired, but he replied that he could not go, as he was better engaged. My 
father started with some other gentlemen and left us. Just then we heard the report 
and the smoke began to come down the companion-way. 'Something must be wrong', 
said a bystander, who started to go and see. He got to the door then turned around 
and gave me such a look of horror, that I never shall forget it. That moment I heard 
some one say, 'The Secretary of State is dead.' I was frightened, of course, and tried 
to get upstairs. 'Something dreadful has happened,' I exclaimed. 'Let me go to my 
father !' I cried, but they kept me back. Some one told me that the gun had exploded, 
but that there was such a crowd around the scene it would be useless for me to try to 
get there. I said that my father was there, and that I must know if any evil had be- 
fallen him. Then they told me he had been wounded. That drove me frantic, I 
begged them to let me go and help him — that he loved me, and would want me near 
him. A lady, seeing my agony,. said to me, 'My dear child, you can do no good; 
your father is in heaven.' " 

The bodies of the victims of this dire calamity, which casta gloom over the whole 
land, were taken up to the capital. Five hearses, conveying the remains of Messrs. 
Upshur, Gilmer, Kennon, Maxey, and Gardiner, followed by a long train of carriages 
and a great concourse of citizens, on horseback and afoot, passed in silence up Penn- 
sylvania Avenue and proceeded to the Executive Mansion. The coffins of the distin- 
guished dead were taken into the East Room and placed on biers to await the funeral 
solemnities which occurred on the Saturday following." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



L19 




OLD HISTORIC LETTERS. 

What is the harvest they bring us, 

Flotsam of life and the years? 
Kissed by the dust in their sleeping 

Bathed in love's sunshine and tears. 

The enthusiastic delver among old historic records now and then finds himself in the 
presence of veritable apparitions of personages whose faces are seen no more save as 
they look down through the limnings of the painter from their lonely places on the old 
ancestral walls, whose voices were silent long generations before the time of his earliest 
memories. 

' These are the apparitions: A bundle of letters, folded, tied and laid away, when and 
by whom, by what careful, loving hands no record tells us. They rise up from old 
trunks, boxes, barrels, and musty shelves, in dust strown lofts and garrets. To sit down 
alone in the quiet and open these bundles of missives, faded and worn, sometimes in tat- 
ters and hardly decipherable, is like taking a long journey backward through the vanished 
years, and holding pleasant communion with the dead, and learning somewhat of the 
lore of the times when they were living, moving actors on the world's wide stage. And 
we are glad to notice that an interest is at length being fostered among our people, 
though thousands of opportunities have already irretrievably passed away, for the 
bringing to light of such of these precious historic souvenirs as have escaped destruction 
and securing for them preservation from further liability to loss. 

The societies of the Daughters and Sons of the Revolution have shown a zeal in this 
direction at once wortliy of commendation and general emulation. Whatever relates to 
the trials, sacrifices, habits, manners and customs of the ancestors of the colonial days — 
whatever comes up to the surface in the course of more studious investigation to throw 
new and more ample light on their, home and neighborhood life takes on additional 
interest and fascination for all classes of our people, an interest thatvvill increaseas the 
widening years go on, and as patriotic impulses become more and more the incentives to 
action. 

This letter taken from a bundle preserved with pious care through all the mu- 
tations of succeeding times, we open and read with feelings akin to awe. It is dated 
June 14th, 1723. It is to a correspondent in London and reads : 

"Wakefield, Virgima. 
Dear Brother — We have n^it a schoolmaster in our neighborhood until now in nearely twenty years. 



120 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

We have now a young minister living with us who was educated at Oxford, took orders and came over as 
assistant to Rev. K<fmp, of Gloucester. That parish is too poor to keep both and he teaches school for 
his board. He teaches sister Susie and me and Madame Carter's boy and two girls. I am now learning 
pretty fast. Mamma and Susie and all send love to you and Mary." 

The writer of this matter of tact epistle was no otlier than Mary Ball, the young 
Virginia damsel at the age of seventeen, and who ten years later was to find favor in the 
eyes of Augustine Washington, and become the mother of the future commander-in- 
chief of the Continentalarmies and the first President of the United States of America. 

Not much is recorded of the youth and young womanhood of Mary Ball, daughter to 
Joseph Ball, son of Col. Wm. Ball who came to Virginia before 1669. From her mother 
who died in 1728 after a widowhood of many years she had doubtless inherited the noble 
qualities of mind and heart, and had been taught all those domestic virtues of which co- 
temporary testimony and tradition tell us. She was a bright exemplar of industry, 
frugality, strength of will and purpose, obedient to the behest of duty, faithfulness and 
modesty, and with deep religious convictions. Here is a letter from one of her friends 
which gives us a glimpse of her lovely girlhood: 

"W'MSBURG, ye 7th of Oct, 1722. 

Deat Sukey : — Madame Ball, of Lancaster, and Her Sweet Molly have gone Hom. Mamma thinks 
Molly the Comliest Maiden She know. She is about 16 yrs old, is taller than Me, is very sensible, 
Modest and Loving. Her hair is like unto flax. Her eyes are the color of yours and her Cheeks are 
like May blossoms. I wish you could See Her." 

Here is a letter or rather a note which has been handed down as an heirloom through 
many generations. The date is Wakefield, Va., 1733, oneyearafterthe birth of George 
Washington, and it is in the handwriting of his father, Captain Augustine Washington, 
who with Mary Ball, his wife, are going to make a visit very soon to some of their friends 
in the neighborhood of the Old Homestead. They announce the time of their coming 
and their intention of bringing with them their "baby George." Through this brief 
note we get but a glimpse of far away events. Only the mere announcement of an 
afternoon or overnight friendly reunion. And this is all that will ever be known of the 
little social event thus briefly alluded to ; but it is a glimpse which may be readily 
widened into charming views of all its unnoted details and circumstances, accordingly 
as rein is given to one's fancies. Doubtless the infant, in swaddling clothes on thi& 
neighborly expedition was everywhere hailed by kindred and friends with the usual 
exclamations of fondness and delight, but they did not perceive the brightness of his 
particular star hanging serenely in the heavens above and pointing to the future mis- 
sion and the career of great renown. 

Here is a letter of great interest written to Mary AVashington by her brother Joseph 
Ball on learning that there was some talk of entering her son George as a midshipman 
in the British navy. 

Stratford by Bow, London, 19th May, 1747. 
"Dear Sisti:r : I understand that you are advised and have some thoughts of putting your son George 
to sea. I think he had betier be put a prentice to a tinker, for a common sailor before the mnsthns by no 
means the common liberty of the subject ; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings 
a month and make him take three-and twenty, and cut and slash him like a negro, or rather like a dog. 
And as to any considerable jireferment in the navy, it is not to be expected, there are so many always 
gaping for it here who have interest and he has none. And if he should get to be master of a Virginia 
ship (which will be very difficult to do) a planter thnt has three or four bunded acres and three or four 
slaves, if he be industrious, may leave his family in belter bread than such a master of a ship can, and if 
the planter can get ever so little before hand let him beijin to buv goods for tobacco and sell them again 
for tobacco, (I never knew them men miss while they vent on so, hut he must never pretend to buy tor 
money and sell for tobacco. I never knew any of them but lost m^re than they got. He must not be too 
hasty to get rich, but go on gently and with patience as things will naturally go. This method, without 
aiming to be a fine gentlemin before his time, will carry a man more comfortably and surelv through the 
world than going to sea. I pray (}od keep you and yours. My wife and daughter join with me in love 
and respect to you and yours. . Your loving brother, 

Joseph liall." 

Another letter is dated 1759, twenty-six years later. It is from Mary, the tnotherof 
George, to a relative in I^ondon. Her son is yet but little more than a boy, but heh as 
been away from her for five years, exposed to privations and hardships untold in the war- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 121 

fare with the French and Indians on the wilderness borders, and pathetically relates to 
her correspondent how grievous and afflicting to her has been his absence. But now 
she is glad he is coming home. 

And here is one of the messages she has received from her son George just after that 
disastrous battle of Braddock with the French and Indians on the Monongahela: 

Camp of Great Meadows, July 14, 1755. 
Honored Madame : — As I doubt not you have heard of our defeat, and perhaps have had it repre- 
sented in a worse light, if posisible, than it deserves, I have taken the earliest opportunity to give an account 
of the engagement as it happened within seven miles of the French fort on Wednesday, the 9th inst. We 
marched on to that place v«ithout any considerable loss, losing now and then a straggler by the French and 
scouting Indians. When we came there we were attacked by a body of French and Indians whose num- 
ber I am certain did not exceed 300 men. Ours consisted of about 1,300 well armed troops, chiefly of 
the English soldiers who were struck with such a panic that they behaved with more cowardice than it is 
possible to conceive. The officers behaved gallantly in order to encourage the men, for which they suf- 
fered greatly, there being nearly 60 killed and wounded, a large proportion out of the number we had. 
The Virginia troops showed a great deal of bravery and were nearly all killed, for out of three companies 
there is scarce 30 men left alive. Capt. Poulson shared a hard fate, for only one of his men was left. 
In short, the dastardly behaviour of those they called regulars exposed all others that were inclined to 
their duty to almost certain death, and at last in spite of all the eftbrts of the officers to the contrary they 
broke and ran as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally them. The general, Braddock, 
was wounded and died three days after. Sir Peter Halket was killed on the field where died many other 
brave officers. I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two 
horses shot under me. Captains Orme and Morris, two of the general's aids-de-camp, were wounded 
early in the engagement, which made the duty hard on me, as I was the only person left to distribute the 
general's orders, which I was scarcely able to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent spell of sick- 
ness that confined me to iny bed and wagon for above ten days. I am still in a weak and feeble condition 
which induces me to halt here two or three days, in the hopes of recovering a little strength to enable me 
to proceed homeward, from whence I fear I will not be able to stir until towards September. From your 
obedient Son, George Washington. 

In July, 1760, Widow Washington writes to her brother Joseph in London as 
follows : 

Dear Brother, this Coms by Captain Nickleson. You seem to blame me for not writeing to you butt I 
doe ashure you that it is Note for want for a very great regard for you and the family, butt as I don't 
ship tobacco the Captains never call on me, soe that I never know when tha com or when tha goe. I be- 
lieve you have got a very good overseer at this quarter now ; Captain Newton has taken a large lease of 
ground from you which I Deare say, if you had been hear yourself, it had not been done. Mr. Daniel 
& his wife & family is well. Cozin Hannah has been married & lost her husband. She has only one child, 
a boy. Pray give my love to Sister Ball & Mr. Bowmen, his son in law & his Lady & I am, Deare Brother, 
Your loving sister, 

Mary Washington. 

Mr. Joseph Ball, Esq., At Stratford by Bow, Nigh London. • 

There is another letter extant, written by the same hand but feebler and more un- 
steady. It is to her son John Augustine, somewhere about the year 1781, when the 
long struggle of the American Revolution was still pending and the independence of the 
thirteen colonies was not yet an assured fact. Her son George had been long away from 
her again as commander-in-chief of the armies and again was exposed to great perils, 
and in the commotion and uncertainties of the times it was natural that the epistle of 
the good matron, now bowed with more than three score years and ten, and harrassed 
by many cares, should take the tinge of surrounding circumstances. She complains 
that the times are hard and that her estates are not yielding enough for her support, 
"that she is going fast, and is like an old almanack, out of date." 

We must not omit an epistle traced by the hand of George Washington when at the 
age of sixteen he was surveying the wilderness lands of his patron Thomas, Lord Fairfax, 
Baron of Cameron. His pen doubtless was a stray quill from an eagle or other wild 
bird — his table a fallen tree — his light a blazing pine fagot. It was written to one of his 
youthful companions, perhaps a schoolmate who had shared with him the rude academic 
trainings of schoolmaster Hobby in Westmoreland. 

Dear Richard : — The receipt of your kind favor of the 2nd instant afforded me unspeakable pleasure, 
as I am convinced I am still in the memory of so worthy a friendship I shall ever be proud of increasing. 



122 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

You gave me tbe iflore pleasure as I received it amongst a parcel of barbarians and an uncouth set of 
people. The like favor often repeated would give me pleasure allho I seem to be in a place where no 
real satisfaction i? to be had. .Since you received my letter in October last I have not sleepcd above three 
nights or four in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the day, lay down before the fire on a little hay, 
straw, fodder, or bearskin, which ever is to be had, with man, wife and childrer., like a i)arcel of dogs or 
cats, and happy is he that gets the place nearest the fire. There's nothing would make all this lolerable, 
but a good reward of a doubleoon which is my constant reward every day that the weather will permit my 
going out, and sometimes six pistoles. The coldness of the weather will not allow my making a long 
stay, as the lodging is rather too cold for the lime of year. 1 have never had my clothes off, but lay and 
sleep in them like a negro except the few nights I have lain in Frederic town. 

G. W.'VSHINGTON. 

Two letters more and we will close our chapter. They were written by the Hon. 
William Fairfax, the founder of Belvoii*, on the Potomac. In 1750, ac<ompanied by 
his son-in-law, Major John Carlyle, of Alexandria, he made a voyage to England to 
visit such of his kinsmen and friends as were still living in the old neighborhoods of 
his boyhood. Years of close attention to private and public affairs in Virginia had 
been wearing upon him, and he needed rest. His faithful wife, Debor^l^ had passed 
away from his side three years before. His son, George William, and his wife and 
children were domiciled in the Belvoir home. The first of these letters is dated, White 
Haven, England, July 6, 1750. 

The second is dated London, October of the same year, and both are addressed to 
Lawrence Washington. In them he gives a description of their voyage and sea sick- 
ness, tells of the comfort they found in the plum cake with which they had been pro- 
vided by his daughter Anne, Lawrence's wife. He speaks of their remembrance of 
the Mount Vernon and Belvoir friends in their toast while envoyage, of their meeting 
withcordial friends after landing in old England, of transacting business connected with 
the tobacco trade, of their solicitude for the well and sick at home, and of the pleasure 
they had received from home letters; assures them that they will not forget their com- 
missions for the purchase of tokens in London, and in concluding, indulges the hope 
that Lawrence Washington and his brother George will derive benefit from their visit 
to the springs. 

A voyage across the Atlantic ocean to the Old World in those times was one of no 
small undertaking. It was an event of a life time. There were no vessels for passengers 
exclusively and the passage had to be made in the ships, brigs or schooners of com- 
merce, many of them but poorly provided with the conveniences and comforts. Some- 
times the voyager was fortunate if favoring gales filled his sails and he crossed over in 
four or five weeks, but oftener through storms or adverse winds or besetting calms 
the titne was as, many months, and generally the "freshest advices" chronicled by the 
gazettes of the day from England and the other countries "beyond the seas" were quite 
old reading before they reached the firesides of the colonists. 

The old letters^ — the worn and faded letters written by hands which have been dust long generations. 
Now and then we take them from their places and read them over tbouchtluliy, as we have many times 
before, and then how they open for our visions the dim vistas of the pa'^t. Far away we can see lonely 
dwellings, rude, ungarnished cabins, the outposts of civilizntion in the wilderness clearings, where in their 
ruddy firelights are gathered, groups of brave hopeful hearts, the makers and builders of the neighborhoods 
and stites. There are fading sails on the rivers and bays ; these outwnrd bound nith cargoes of tobncco and 
bearing letters — precious letters to the Fnglish friends in homes, three thousand miles away, some of them 
from brave, hopeful hearts with cheerful story of how their lots have been cast in pleasant places. Some 
of them perchance from hearts less resolute ; and repining liecau^e of besetting struggles and hardships in 
the new homes. And there are sails incoming, do-cried with joy and swelling hearts for the expected 
friends on board, for the long looked lor messages and tokens and presents for the pioneers. These are 
some of the shadowy throngings of the vistas which open to us when we unfold and read the faded letters. 
Let ours then be the kindly office of gathering and preserving such of them as still remain scattered, that 
they be not lost. 

This searching and gathering and rescuing from destruction the faded nnd tattered waifs of hearts and 
fingers of the long ago is purely a labor of love and kindly instincts we know, with no compensation in 
dollars and cents and of a certainty there will be some who will put but little estimate upon our efforts, 
and fail to appreciate our motives and solicitude, but there will be others, many others we doubt not, who 
will properly appreciate them and so, perhaps they shall not have been in vain. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



123 



We want more facts concerning the old homestead';, the old families, the old churches, the old high 
ways, the old manners and customs — more about the heroic sacrifices of the brave pioneers, the honored 
and worthy fathers and mothers who set the hearth stones and the altars along the bays and rivers and 
creeks and by the mountains in the new found wastes and planted the germs of civil and religious liberty 
(iver them all. We want to learn more about the sturdy Continentalers who sprang to arras and filled up 
the'regiments when flving couriers brought tidings of Lexington to the plantations along the Pautuxent, the 
Potomac, the Rappahannock, and the James. We want more enthusiasm in the direction of preserving and 
restoring the old historic houses which are fa>-t falling to ruins — vnore care to keep in order the burial 
places, to reset the falling memorial stones, restore their fading inscriptions and keep up their inclosures. 




The Old Gateway of Mount Vernon, and Lodges. 

Through this gateway in Washington's time was the only carriage road leading to 
the Mansion ot Mount Vernon. I'he road connected about one mile distant to the 
west with the Old King's Highway from Williamsburg by Alexandria and on to 
the Shenandoah. It was a much traveled way and is still used, but the approach for 
the great tide of travel which now sets in to the consecrated home is by the Electric 
railway and Steamboats. 




THE SWIFT SURE STAGE, 

STARTS FKOM THE 



GREEN S^^^'^^ THEE 



124 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 




THE OLD VIRGINIA REEL. 

Very sweet and very merry, very faint and f^^r away, 
Now I hear the ancient fiddlers on the strings begin to play, 
Keeping time with swaying bodies and a kind of whispered croon 
'Till a host of dainty slippers follow to the dear old tune. 



Ah, the instruments are shattered and the strings are snapped in twain, 

And the fiddlers have forgotten and will never play again ! 

'Twas the creaking of the branches on the shingles to and fro 

That recalled to me the music and the mirth of long ago. 

But above the stars eternal in their faded pinks and blues, 

With the powder on their ringlets, and the buckles on their shoes 

I shall see the beaux and sweethearts in a long procession kneel 

And their harps will play the music of an old Virginia reel. Minnie Irving. 



SOME 



Old Historic Landmarks 

OF 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, 

DESCRIBED IN 

A HAND-BOOK FOR THE TOURIST 

OVER THE 

Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon 
Electric Railway, 

BY 

W. H. SNOWDEN, A. M. 

OF ANDALUSIA, VA. 

MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF 

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NEW JERSEY, 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, &C. 



Volume II 



ALEXANDRIA, VA: 

PRINTED BY G. H. RAMEY & SON. 

1903. 



Copyright, imi 

BY 

William H. yjs'owi>EK, 



THE NAME OF MOUNT VERNON. 

While every American has heard of Mount Vernon and has read the story of the 
services of the renowned patriot whose dust is enshrined in its soil, not one in a hun- 
dred perhaps knows the origin of the name. 

James, the unfortuuate Duke of Monmouth, nephew of Algeron Sidney, but who 
claimed to be the son of Charles II. of England, and who by a life of intrigues sought 
to make himself king and in consequence lost his life on the scaffold in 1685, had a 
private secretary named Vernon, who after the duke's death found favor in influential 
quarters and under the reign of William III, became Secretary of State. He left a son, 
Edward, born 1684, who, much against his father's wishes and entreaties, entered the 
navy, and serving with distinction at the beginning of his career rose eventually to the 
rank of admiral of the British navy. In 1722 he was elected to the House of Commons, 
and having in July, 1 739, declared there in a speech that Porto Bello, a coveted Spanish 
town on the South American coast, might be reduced with six sail of the line, and that 
he would stake his lite and his reputation on the success of such an expedition, he was 
accordingly despatched soon after with a squadron to make the attempt then considered 
a chimerical one. He was successful, and made himself exceedingly popular, at least 
with his men, by distributing among them generous bounties m captured Spanish doub- 
loons, which had just arrived from Spain to pay Spanish troops defending the city. 
On returning to England he was welcomed with acclamation and his prowess as a 
naval commander was everywhere acknowledged. He received the thanks of both 
houses of parliament and was voted the freedom of the city of London. From that 
time, however, his star declined. 

An expedition which he undertook against Carthagena in 1740-42, signally failed 
of its purpose. SmoUet, at that time a naval surgeon, accompanied the fleet and has 
told the story of it in "Rhoderic Random," one of his novels, in which he compares 
Vernon and General Wentworth, who at the attack commanded the auxiliary land 
forces, to Ceasar and Pompey. "The one," he says "would not brook the authority 
of a superior, while the other was impatient of that of an equal, so that between 
the pride of the one and the insolence of the other the enterprise was a failure". A part 
of the land forces under Wentworth, auxiliary to Vernon at Carthagena consisted ot a 
regiment of volunteers from Virginia in which Lawrence Washington served as a cap- 
tain, and apparently he was either very favorably impressed with the personal qualities 
of the admiral or his abilities as a commander; for he gave his name to the new home 
which his father, Augustine, had been establishing for him on the Potomac during his 
absence on the seas, and so it came to pass that one of the fairest situations which ever 
crowned a river expanse or smiled beneath the radiance of a summer sky, has been 
known the wide world over for a hundred and fifty years as Mount Vernon. 

How this situation, the nucleus of the subsequent great "estate" of eight thousand 
acres became a part of the Washington possessions has already been told in a previous 
paper of this series, the "Old Mill at Epsewasson." Lawrence Washington lived to 
enjoy his new home but ten years. After his death, in 1752, it became the inheritance 
of his brother George by the provision of his father's will, contingent on the death of 
Sarah, only surviving child of Lawrence and Anne Washington, which occurred very 
soon after that of her father. 

It will be remembered that Lawrence Washington, through the influence of his friend 
the admiral, secured for his brother George an appointment ao mid-shipman in the Brit 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



ish navy, which he was only prevented from accepting by the earnest protestations and 
entreaties of his mother, which saved him from a lile and career which might have 
given him but little public prominence for the mission which was to bring him his 
world-wide renown. 

Vernon's popularity with the masses of the English people was so great that despite 
bis unfortunate Carthagena expedition he was actually elected a member of parliament 
from three districts at the same time after his return. Probably his known hostility to 
the existing government had much to do with his popularity. The enemies of Wal- 
pole exalted his praises till his heroism was made a proverb, his birthday signalized by 
celebrations and bonfires and his head was selected as a favorite ornament for sign 
posts. In 1745 he was detailed to watch with his fleet the North sea, in view of the 
pretender's adherents. The next year a serious quarrel ensued between him and the 
British government which resulted in his writing two pamphlets which so much exasper- 
ated the authorities that by the King's express command his name was striken from the 
list of the admirals. He died in 1757 at his seat in Suffolk, and, notwithstanding his 
disgrace, a handsome monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. 

PEN PORTRAITURE OF WASHINGTON BY A COTEMPORARY. 

DESCRIBED AT THE AGE OF THREE SCORE. 

"My own first sight of him seems like a remote vision ; it was only from a distance 
and in my early boyhood. I had been walking up the street, when I approached a 
great cavalcade, attended and surrounded by floods of people, all of whose looks seemed 
to be bent on one object. On a dark sorrel horse, which he rode with military grace 
and ease, was an officer of large size, wearing the triangular cocked hat which appears 
in all paintings of the battle scenes of the Revolution, and attended on either hand by 
officers of his staff. They were so heavily loaded with dust as to be entirely of one 
color. Hats, coats, boots, hands, saddles, holsters, horses, seemed all of one uniform 
drab, — as if they had been riding for hours along a highway, without stopping to re- 
move the dust as it accumulated upon them. They told me that was General Wash- 
ington ; and I afterwards heard my father read from the papers of the day an account 
of his having been crowned, as he passed the bridge at Gray's Ferry, with a chaplet of 
flowers, and greeted by a band of beautiful young ladies, chanting a song of welcome 
to the hero who had closed the eventful struggle for freedom by the then recent victory 
of Yorktown. I was too far off to recognize his features ; but the mounted figure is 
even now distinctly before my mind's eye ; and I instantly recognized it again, when 
I saw, for the first time, Trumbull's picture of the surrender of Yorktown, that now oc- 
cupies one of the panels of the Rotunda of the Capitol. The Washington there drawn 
is precisely the one I saw coming into the city by the road from Gray's Ferry. 

"My next view of him was a nearer and more distinct one, — it was as worshipper. 
My parents, who were Episcopalians, had a front pew in the gallery of Christ Church, 
in Philadelphia ; and from that favorable post of observation, I noticed in the middle 
aisle, a pew lined with crimson velvet, fringed with gold, into which I saw a highly 
dignified gentleman enter, accompanied by others younger than himself, and most re- 
spectful in their deportment towards him, who were members of his military family. 
I was but a youug boy, and the impression, as I well remember, on my youthful mind 
was, that I had never seen so grand a gentleman before, Everybody else seemed to be 
of the same mind ; for I do not consider it a slander on the very respectful congrega- 
tion worshipping in that church to say, that far more looks were fixed upon that pew 
than on the puljMt. The dejiortment of Washington was reverent and attentive ; his 
eyes, when not on the prayer book, were on the officiating clergyman, and no witless 
or irreverent worshipper could plead Washington's example. I have since been in the 
church at Alexandria, which was his parish church, have handled the prayer book he 
used, and seen his well known autograph in the front of his Bible; and there the same 
impression existed as to his regular and exemplary attendance and demeanor. He 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. O 

could not always be present in the church at Philadelphia, in the afternoon, being 
pressed by the exigency of public affairs, which, in the mind of Washington, were ever 
held to be matters of necessity. Hence he gave orders that in case certain important 
despatches were received during his attendance in church, they should be brought to 
him there : and I have seen them delivered into his hands. He opened them imme- 
diately and deliberately and attentively read them through ; then laying them on the 
seat by his side, he resumed his prayer book, and., apparently gave his mind to the sol- 
emnities of the place and the hour. 

"But once I had an opportunity far more favorable, of beholding this greatest of men 
under circumstances the best possible for exhibiting him to the fullest advantage. It 
was a privilege which could happen but once to any man ; and I esteem the hour when 
1 enjoyed it as one of the brightest moments I was ever permitted to know. Its re- 
membrance yet glows vividly on my mind — years have not dimmed it ; the whole 
scene is yet before me; and I need not say with what force repeated public occasions 
of a like kind have since recalled it to remembrance. Yes, it was my favored lot to 
see and hear President Washington address the Congress of the United Slates, when 
elected for the last time, — of men now living, how tew can say the same. 

"I was but a school boy at the time, and had followed one of the many groups of 
people who, from all quarters, were making their way to the Hall in Chestnut street, 
at the corner of Fifth, where the two Houses of Congress then held their sittings, and 
where they were that day to be addressed by the President, on the opening of his 
second term of ofifice. Boys can often manage to work their way through a crowd 
better than men can; at all events, it so happened that I succeeded in reaching the 
steps of the Hall, from which elevation, looking in every direction, I could see nothing 
but human heads ; a vast fluctuating sea, swaying to and fro, and filling every accessi- 
ble place which commanded even a distant view of the building. They bad congre- 
gated, not with the hope of getting into the Hall, for that was physically impossible, 
but that they might see Washington. 

"Many an anxious look was cast in the direction from which he was expected to come, 
until at length, true to the appointed hour, (he was the most punctual of men,) an agi- 
tation was observable on the outskirts of the crowd, which gradually opened and 
gave space for the approach of an elegant white coach, drawn by six superb white 
horses, having on its sides, beautiful designs, painted by Cipriani. It slowly made its 
way, till it drew up immediately in front ot the Hall. The rush was now tremendous. 
But as the coach door opened, there issued from it two gentlemen, with long white 
wands, who, with some difficulty, parted the people, so as to open a passage from the 
carriage to the steps, on which the fortunate school boy had achieved a footing, and 
whence the whole proceeding could be distinctly seen. As the person of the President 
emerged from the carriage, a universal shout rent the air, and continued as he very 
deliberately ascended the steps. On reaching the platform he paused, looking back on 
the carriage, thus affording to the anxiety of the people the indulgence they desired, 
of feasting their eyes upon his person. Never did a more majestic personage present 
himself to the public gaze. He was within two feet of me ; 1 could have touched his 
clothes; but I should as soon have thought of touching an electric battery. Boy, as I 
was, I felt as in the presence of a divinity. As he turned to enter the Hall, the gen- 
tlemen with the white wands pre:eded him, and, with still greater difficulty than before 
repressed the people and cleared a way to the great staircase. As he ascended I as- 
cended with him, step by step, creeping close to the wall, almost hidden by the skirts 
of his coat. Nobody looked at me ; everybody was looking at him ; and thus I was 
'permitted, unnoticed, to glide along, and happily to make my way (where so many 
were vainly longing and struggling to enter) into the lobby of the chamber of the 
House of Representatives. Once in, I was safe ; for had I even been seen by the offi- 
cers in attendance, it would have been impossible to get me out again. I saw near me 
a large pyramidal stove, which fortunately, had but little fire in it, and on which I 



6 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

forthwith clambered until I had attained a secure perch, from which every part of the 
Hall could be deliberately and distinctly surveyed. Depend upon it, I made use of 
my eyes. 

"On either side of the broad aisle that was left vacant in the centre, were assembled 
the two Houses of Congress. As the President entered, all rose, and remained stand- 
ing till he had ascended the steps at the upper end of the chamber and taken his seat 
in the Speaker's chair. It was an impressive moment. JNotwithstanding that the 
spacious apartment, floor, lobby, galleries, and all approaches, were crowded to their 
utmost capacity, not a sound was heard ; the silence of expectation was unbroken and 
profound ; every breath seemed suspended. He was dressed in a full suit of richest 
black velvet ; his lower limbs in short clothes with diamond kneebuckles and black 
silk stockings. His shoes, which were brightly japanned, were surmounted with large 
square silver buckles. His hair carefully displayed in the manner ot the day, was 
richly powdered and gathered behind into a black silk bag, on which was a bow of 
black ribbon. In his hand he carried a plain cocked hat, decorated with the Ameri- 
can cockade. He wore by his side a light, slender, dress sword, in a green shagreen 
scabbard, with a richly ornamented hilt. His gait was deliberate, his manner solemn, 
but self-possessed, and he presented, altogether, the most august human figure I had 
then, or have since beheld. 

"At the head of the .Senate stood Thomas Jefferson, in a blue coat, single breasted, 
with large bright basket buttons, his vest and small clothes of crimson. I remember 
being struck with his animated countenance, of a brick-red hue, his bright eye and 
foxy hair, as well as by his tall, gaunt, ungainly form and square shoulders. A perfect 
contrast was presented by the pale, reflective face and delicate figure of James Madison ; 
and above all, by the short, burly, bustling form of General Knox, with ruddy cheek, 
prominent eye, and still more prominent proportions of another kind. In the 
semi-circle which was formed behind the chair and on either hand of the Presi- 
dent, my boyish gaze was attracted by the splendid attire of the Chevalier 
D'Yrujo, the Spanish ambassador, then the only foreign minister near our infant gov- 
ernment. His glittering star, his chapeau 5ras, edged with ostrich feathers, his foreign 
air and courtly bearing contrasted strongly with the nobility of nature's forming who 
stood around him. It was a very fair representation of the old world and the new. 
How often has the same reflection occurred to me since, on witnessing the glittering, 
and now numerous company of foreign dignitaries collected round our Presidents by an 
inauguration day, or the recurrence of our national anniversary. 

"Having retained his seat for a few moments, while the membersresumed their seats, 
the President rose, and taking from his breast a roll of manuscript, proceeded to read 
his address. His voice was full and sonorous, deep and rich in its tones, free from the 
trumpet ring which it could assume amid the tumult of battle, (and which is said to 
have been distinctly heard above its roar,) but sufiiciently loud and clear to fill the 
chamber and be heard, with perfect ease, in its most remote recesses. The address 
was of considerable length ; its topics, of course, I forget, for I was too young to un- 
derstand them; I only remember in us latter part some reference to the Wabash River 
(then a new name to n)y ear) and to claims or disputes on the part of the Indian 
tribes. He read, as he did everything else, with a singular serenity and composure, 
with manly ease and dignity, but without the smallest attempt at display. Having 
concluded, he laid the manuscript upon the table before him and resumed his seat ; 
when, after a slight j)ause, he rose and withdrew, the members rising and remaining on 
their feet until he left the chamber. 

"The paper was then taken up bv Mr. FJeckley, the Clerk of the House, andagain 
read from beginning to end. Berkley's enunciation, by the by, was admirably clear, 
giving every syllable of every word. 

"This form having been gone through, the members of the Senate retired, and I took 
advantage of the bustle to descend from my unwonted and presumptuous elevation, and 
mingle with the dissolving crowd." 



OF Virginia and Maryland. 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, 



"They come in great procession, 
With firm but noiseless tread, 

From the mists of the far horizon — 
Those ghosts of the mighty dead. 

In front of the glittering pageant 
With the clear, dark eyes serene 

Behold in his ruff and doublet, 

The Knight of the Virgin Queen ! — 

John Smith the fearless captain 
Of the mighty days of old. 

With the beard and swarthy forehead 
And the bearing free and bold ! 

He has fought in the bloody battles 
Of the Old World and the New 

With a soul unmoved by peril — 
A stout heart, kind and true ! 

He has flashed his glittering falchion 
In the sun of Eastern lands, 

And t&iled, a woe worn captive, 
In the wild Caucasian Lands ! 

He has bent with knightly homage 
To the beauty in her bower, 

But here, in the purple sunset 
He has met with a fairer flower ! 

She comes ! like a fawn of the forest, 
With a bearing mild and meek. 



ADVENTURER, SOLDIER AND EXPLORER. 

The blood of a line of chieftains 
Rich in her glowing cheek. 

With the tender fluttering bosom 
And the rounded shoulders, bare — 

The folds of her mantle waving 
In the breath of the idle air. 



With a crown of nodding feathers 
Set roiind with glimmering pearls. 

And the light of the dreamy sunshine 
Asleep in her raven curls ! 

Our own dear Pocahontas ! 

The Virgin Queen of the West — 
With the heart of a Christian hero 

In a timid maiden's breast! 

You have heard the moving story 

Of the days of long ago, 
How the tender girlish bosom 

Shrank not from the deadly blow. 

How the valiant son of England, 
In the woodland drear and wild, 

Was saved from the savage war club 
By the courage of a child. 

And now in the light of glory 

The noble figures stand 
The founder of Virginia, 

And the pride of the Southern land !" 



Previous to the year 1608 no human eye had ever rested on the broad tide and fair 
landscapes of the Upper Potomac River, save that of the wild and roving red man. 
In the Spring of that year the adventurous and intrepid discoverer Captain John 
Smith of the little English colony at Jamestown, "with the intent of searching out 
every inlet, and bay fit for habitations and harbors," fitted out an open barge of about 



8 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

"three tons burthen" and accompanied by "fourteen chosen men, Walter Russell, 
doctor of physics, and six other gentlemen: Ralph Morton, Thomas Momford, William 
Cantrill, Richard Featherstone, James Burne and Michael Sicklen and seven soldiers ; 
Jonas Profit, Anas Todkill, Robert Small, James Watkins, John Powell, James Red 
and Richard Keale who were to work the barge and to act on the defensive in case 
of encounters with the natives. Their boat was fitted with sails and conveniences for 
rowing. As they coasted the wild shores of the Chesapeake and its affluents, many mar- 
velous and exciting incidents attended their expedition which are quaintly set forth in 
the valuable journal of the Captain, published in London, 1620, and still extant in the 
Congressional Library. 

On the 1 6th of June, the explorers discovered the Potomac, and proceeding up the 
stream about thirty miles they landed on the Virginia Shore, but the hostile reception 
they met with from the Indians forced them back to their boat. Not dismayed however 
by this treatment they continued on in their northward course, touching at various 
points for observation and supplies, until they had reached the Great Falls, thirteen 
miles above the site of Washington City. 

Captain Smith and his men were delighted by the deep, broad, flowing river which 
bore them on its surface. They had seen the rivers of Europe, but they were tiny 
streams compared with this new one they had just found, albeit they were bordered 
by great cities. Their own historic Thames the port of the mighty city of London 
doubtless seemed very insignificant to them. The affluents of the new river draining 
the vast regions of both Virginia and Maryland whose primal depths, not yet choked 
by the accumulations of silt from the tobacco and cornfields of the future came down 
deep and full with their tributes of waters. The bordering forests of the rich slopes 
and plateaus around them contained oaks which had been scattering their autumn 
leaves for hundreds of years. Everywhere an abundance of "sweet springs" poured 
from the banks. Groups of deer and bears drank along the margins and were hardly 
startled by the firing of carbines. Every prospect was a marvel to the explorers. The 
fish were so plentiful as to be readily taken with basket and spear all about the barge; 
wild fowl, geese, swans and ducks flocked everywhere and the woods were alive with 
wild animals and all could be secured for subsistence with but little effort. The natives 
with but few exceptions came down in wonder to meet the pale faced strangers in 
their "winged boat" and exchange friendly greetings and to furnish them with corn 
and other supplies. All things proclaimed to the adventurers that the new region 
must be a most desirable one for the planting of English colonies. It was without 
doubt a land of plenty they thought, for little toiling. Its soil, deep and rich would 
produce a hundred fold ; its climate was genial and fragments of shining metal which 
they found in the river sands and cliffs created in their minds the belief that they had 
found the veritable Pactolis which was to yield cargoes of gold. And no doubt they 
•returned to Jamestown with flush of satisfaction and anticipation. 

To one of Smith's inclinations and indomitable energies the varied possibilities 
which he had contemplated as he made this expedition must have filled his being with 
high resolves and hopes for his future career. No one of the early American pioneers 
had more correct conceptions of the conditions needed for successful colonization, nor 
a broader comprehension of the unrivaled facilities for civilized empire afforded by 
the new world, and there may have been some prescient glimmerings of the wondrous 
future of the new found lands floating in his vision. But as he surveyed from his little 
bark the interminable forests of all the shores and the expanse of waters cleft by the 
frail stone-hewn canoe of the strange savage people, he hardly dreamed that two and a 
half centuries hence by the tide of that same lonely wilderness river the capital 
of "time's greatest empire" was to be so superbly enthroned. 

Captain Smith had carefully noted in his journal all the important circumstances of 
his voyage, and had quite accurately mapped the course of the main stream with its 
creeks and inlets, and both his journal and map remain to tell us how well he executed 
the work vvhich had been entrusted to him by the colony. He became afterwards the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 9 

most prominent man and the leading spirit in the deliberations and workings of the 
first company of English colonists numbering one hundred and five persons who in 1607 
made the first settlement of Jamestown. His early lite had been given to the cause of 
freedom in the 'Low Countries" where he had fought for the independence of the Bavar- 
ian republic. As a traveler he roamed over France ; had visited the shores of Eygpt ; 
had returned to Italy; and panting for glory had sought the borders of Hungary where 
there had long existed an hereditary warfare with the followers of Mahomet. It was 
there that the young English cavalier distinguished himself by the bravest feats of arms 
in sight of Christians and infidels, engaging fearlessly and always successfully in single 
combat with the Turks, which custom from the days of the crusades had been warran- 
ted by the rules of chivalry. His signal prowess in these encounters gained for him the 
favor of Sigismund Bathori the unfortunate prince of Transylvania. At length he with 
many others was overpowered in a sudden skirmish in the glens of Wallachia, and was 
left severely wounded on the field of battle. A prisoner of war he was now according 
to the Eastern custom, offered for sale like a beast in the market place, and was sent to 
Constantinople as a slave. A Turkish lady had compassion on his misfortunes and his 
youth, and designing to restore him to freedom had him removed to a fortress in the 
Crimea. Contrary to her comm.ands he was there, subjected to the harshest usages 
among half savage serfs. Within an hour after his arrival the overseer of the estate 
pursuant to his master's suggestion ordered his head and face shaved. A ring 
of iron with a long, crooked arm to it, was riveted about his neck ; and his clothes 
being taken from hini, he received as a substitute a side of undressed skin and a rough 
coat made of buffalo hair. 

The dwelling of this harsh master was a castle large and strong with many extensive 
enclosures about it and surrounded by high stone walls. Upon the plantations of the 
estate attached to it were many Christian slaves, and besides these, near a hundred 
Turkish convicts sentenced to hard labor ; and Smith as the last comer was regarded 
as the slave of slaves to them all. But this was a servitude which he did not long en- 
dure. His Turkish master one day on a round of inspection having visited a farm 
house about a league from the castle where Smith was threshing out grain, in the ex- 
citement of the moment at the abusive treatment to which he was subjected, the new 
slave attacked the insolent Turk with his threshing bat and killed him on the spot. 
Then, having concealed the dead body under a stack of straw he dressed himself in the 
Turk's clothing, and filling a knapsack with provisions mounted the dead master's 
horse and fled swiftly for his life. Thus was it that one of the most distinguished of 
the early planters of Virginia was a runaway slave. After wandering uncertainly for 
days, Smith was fortunate to light upon the road or bridle path rather, leading north 
toward the Russian frontier, and after traveling upon it for sixteen days taking care all the 
while to keep from being observed, which in that unfrequented region was not a mat- 
ter of so much difficulty, he reached a Muscovite garrison on the banks of the river 
Don. Here again his Knightly bearing, adroitness and social accomplishments, added 
to his recent perils and escape, were at once the passport for him to woman's sympathy 
and intercession. The governor of the place gave him a very hospitable reception, 
and with friendly letters from governor to governor he passed through the southern 
province of Russia to Hermanstadt into Transylvania. 

After having been well received and entertained in Transylvania, Smith proceeded 
by way of Prague to Leipsic, in which city Prince Sigismund had taken up his residence, 
and whither Count Meldritch, Smith's late Colonel, had also retired. Both of these 
personages received him with much good will, and the Prince to repair his losses gave 
him a purse of fifteen hundred gold ducats. 

His purse thus replenished, Smiih made the tour of Germany, France and Spain, and 
even crossed from Gibraltar to the Spanish-Africa fortress of Tangier. While on that 
coast he became acquainted with the captain of a French armed ship, and with him went 
to the city of Morocco. He had entertained some designs of adventuring in the wars 
of that country, but finding the city in a very ruinous condition, and the civil struggles 



10 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



there not so much a regular warfare as "perfidious and bloody murder" he hastened to 
leave the wretched country, but not until he had borne a part in a desperate fight be- 
tween his friend the French captain and two Spanish men of war. He reached Eng- 
land in the course of the year 1604 and having fallen in with Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold, was easily induced by that navigator to take an active part in the newly 
planned project for planting a colony in Virginia, an enterprise into which our brave 
adventurer in European lands entered with all his characteristic enthusiasm and in 
which his large experience was of such great service. 

Most readers are acquainted with the romantic story of Captain Smith's capture by 
the Indians on the Chickahominy ; of his sentence to death by Powhatan, their king, 
and of his narrow escape from his terrible fate by the kindly intercession of Pocahon- 
tas the child daughter of the King, who threw herself between the upraised club of the 
savage executioner, and the heroic adventurer and thus saved his life. 

In 1609, Captain Smith by an accidental explosion of gunpowder at Jamestown was 
so severely injured that he was compelled to return to England for surgical assistance. 
He lived twenty-two years after, dying in 1631, but he did not revisit the scenes of 
his pioneer adventures and perils in the New World. In his death the struggling col- 
ony at Jamestown lost a brave, heroic spirit, an earnest unselfish friend and promoter 
of their interests, a wise and safe counsellor and director through good and evil report. 
From the first, his most ardent hopes and exertions had been for the success of the ven- 
ture, but all his solicitude was repaid with only false accusations and ingratitude. He 
received for his sacrifices and perilous exertions, not one foot of land — not the house 
even he had built, nor any r^ivvard but the approval of his conscience and that of the 
world. 



POCAHONTAS-THE DUSKY MAIDEN 

AND PRINCESS. 

The pathetic story ot the dusky maiden who, 
obeying the spontaneous impulses of her kind- 
lier nature, nearly three hundred years ago on 
the banks of the Chickahominy, won the 
clemency of her stern father, King Powhatan, 
and rescued from a barbarous death, at the 
imminent peril of her own life, one who had 
no claims upon her of consanguinity nor long 
friendship, but was a stranger and an alien 
to her and her people, will continue to be 
acknowledged as an established fact, notwith- 
standing the malignant atfempts of cynics to 
pervert and falsify the plain historical evidences 
upon which its veracity depends. It will still 
hold its place in the earliest chapters of Vir- 
ginia history, and still command, as it ever 
has done, the interest and admiration of 
the young and old of our republic. 

The circumstances of the rescue of Captain John Smith, according to the most 
trustworthy chronicles, are these : From the time of his first landing on the banks of 
the J.imes river with the voyagers sent out under the auspices of the Virginia company 
of London in 1606 to that of his departure from Jamestown for England in 1609, he 
omitted no opportunity to collect all possible information concerning the geography 
and varied resources of the country for the occupation of which he had so faithfully 
labored from the beginning of the enterprise. It was on one of his excursions in pur- 
suit of this object that he was surprised and captured by the natives and carried before 
their king, Opechancanough. But in this strait his characteristic adroitness and tact 




i oCA^OnTo. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 11 

served and saved him. Drawing from his pocket the little compass which had served 
to guide him through the wilderness, he amused the savages by an explanation of its 
wonderful properties, and increased their admiration of his superior genius by impart- 
ing to them some vague conceptions of the form of the earth and the nature of the 
planetary bodies. To the Indians who detained him as their prisoner, his captivity was 
a stranger event than any circumstance of which the traditions of their people preserved 
the memory. He was allowed to send a letter to the fort at Jamestown, and the sav- 
age wonder was increased ; for he seemed by some incomprehensible agency toendow the 
paper with the gift of intelligence. The curiosity of all the clans of the neighborhood 
was awakened by the actions of the prisoner. He was conducted in triumph from the 
settlement on the Chickahominy to the Indian villages on the Rappahannock and 
the Potomac, and thence through various towns to the residence of Opechancanough 
at Pamunkey. There for the space of three days they practiced incantations and cere- 
monies, in tlie hope of obtaining some insight into the mystery of his character and his 
designs. It was evident to them that the pale faced stranger was a being of a higher 
order than that of their own, and gifted with influences to sway and control other 
minds at will. They parleyed among themselves, and queried, "Was his nature kind- 
ly and beneficent; was he to be considered a friend and to be taken into their confid- 
ence, or was he to be dreaded as a wily and dangerous intruder?" Their minds were 
bewildered as they beheld his calm fearlessness in the face of danger, and they sedul- 
ously observed towards him the utmost deference and hospitality, as if to propitiate his 
power should he be rescued from their hands. In their dilemma they referred the de- 
cision of his fate to Powhatan, who was then residing in what is now Gloucester county, 
on York river, at a village to which Smith was conducted through the regions now so 
celebrated; where the youthful Lafayette hovered upon the skirts of Cornwallis, and 
where the arms of France and those of the colonies were united to achieve the crowning 
victory of American independence : and where nearly a hundred years later occurred 
many of the important events of the great civil struggle between the States of the North 
and the South. 

The grim warriors of Powhatan as they met in council to make their decision, dis- 
played their gayest apparel before the Englishman whose fate was in their hands. The 
fears of the feeble aborigines were about to prevail and the immediate death of Smith, 
repeatedly threatened and repeatedly delayed, would have been inevitable but for the 
timely intercession of Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, a girl of "tenne or twelve 
years old which not only for features, countenance and expression much exceeded any 
of the rest of her people, but for wit and spirit was the only nonpareil of the country." 
"The gentle feelings of humanity are the same in every race and in every period of 
life. They bloom, though unconsciously, in the bosom of a child." 

Captain Smith had easily won the confidence and affection of the Indian maiden 
and now ihe impulse of mercy was awakened in her breast. Slie clung firmly to his 
neck and as his head was bowed to receive the strokes of the executioners, did the 
child like superstition of her kindred, reverence her interposition as a token from a 
superior power? Her fearlessness and her entreaties persuaded the council to spare 
the "agreeable stranger" who might make hatchets for her father and rattles and beads 
for herself, the favorite child. 

The barbarians, whose decision had long been held in suspense by the mysterious 
awe which Smith had inspired, now resolved to receive him as a friend and to make 
him a partner of their councils. Accordingly, they tempted him to join their bands, 
and sought to gain his assistance in an attack upon the colonists at Jamestown, but 
when his decision of character succeeded in changing the current of their thoughts 
they dismissed him with mutual promises of friendshi[j. Thus the captivity of Smith 
did itself become a benefit to the colony ; for he had not only observed with care the 
country between the James and Potomac, and had gained some knowledge of the 
language and the manners of the natives, but he now was able to establish a peaceful 



12 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

intercourse between the English and the tribes of Powhatan ; and witii her companions 
the chihl who had rescued liim from death, afterwards canac everyday to the fort with 
baskets of corn for the garrison. 

Captain Smith returned to England in 1609 and never revisited the colony. Soon 
after, Pocahontas was sent to live with a friendly tribe on the upper Potomac, in the 
neighborhood of Potomac creek. In the year 1612 a foraging party of the colonists 
under the command of Captain Argall sailed thither for the purpose, as they said, by 
some strategem, of capturing the ssquestered maiden, that they might hold her for the 
ransom of many Englishmen then prisoners of Powhatan, and also "to get such arms 
and tooles as he and other Indians had got by murder and stealing from others of their 
nation, with some quantity of corne for the colonies reliefe." To gain this end Argall 
promised Japasaws, the ruling sachem, the gift of a copper kettle if he would betray 
the unsuspecting Pocahontas into his hands, which was accordingly done in this wise: 
Japasaws made his wife pretend to be very anxious to see Captain Argall's vessel and 
beg of him to take her aboard and then threatened to beat her for her importunity un- 
til she cried ; but at last said, if Pocahontas would accompany her, she might go, and 
"thus they betrayed the poore innocent girl aboard" and carried her to Jamestown, 
where she found in the person of John Rolfe, a young man of twent)'-eight, an admir- 
er and a suitor for her hand, and to whom she was married in the little church of the 
colony with becoming ceremonies April 5, 1614. 

About a year after this interesting event, Governor Dale sailed for England taking 
with him Rolfe andhis Indain bride, and a nuinber of other natives. Captain Smith 
was at this time about to embark upon a voyage to New England, but before sailing he 
wrote a letter to his sovereign, recommending Pocahontas to her good graces, express- 
ing his gratitude to h'u old friend and preserver in the wilderness for her kindness to 
him and for the many services she had rendered the Englisli in Virginia, and declaring 
that "she had been under God the instrument to preserve the colony from death, 
famine and utter confusion." 

The Indian wife Pocahontas soon became a general favorite with the colonists at 
Jamestown and readily fell into their civilized ways. She was christened Rebecca and 
duly instructed in the English language and the doctrines of the church. In 1616 she 
sailed from Virginia with her husband- for England, where, as the daughter of an 
Indian King, she was received with great enthusiasm and solicitude, and everywhere 
entertained with becoming marks of respect. "Lord and Lady Delaware presented 
her at court, and 'divers courtiers and others' who saw her, declared that they had seen 
many English ladies worse favored, proportioned and behaviored." The grotesque 
adornments of a savage maid were exchanged for the jewels, silks and laces of a court 
lady, and we are told that she "did not only accustorne herself to civilitie, but still 
carried herself as the daughter of a king, and vvas accordingly respected." 

By princes she was received as a princess, and by the dignitaries of the church she 
was welcomed as the first fruits of missionary effort in the new world. The Lord Bish- 
op of London entertained her at his palace with "festival, state and pomp." 

In the rich apparel befitting a lady of rank and fashion she sat for her portrait. 
Costly presents were bestowed upon her, and at the theatres she listened to flittering 
adulations of which she was the object. All of this time Master Rolfe seems to have 
sunk entirely into the background and to have shone only by reflected light. But all 
the homage and flattery which Pocahontas received could not impair the simplicity of 
the "Guardian Angel of Virginia" nor make her forgetful of old friends. 

Her meeting with Captain Smith, after years of separation, upon British soil and 
amid her grand surroundings, was beautiful and touching. Before leaving for New 
England the bold adventurer went to see her and "addressed with a modest saluta- 
tion," befitting, as he thought, her rank, whereupon she turned from him and covered 
her face, "not seeming well contented." Captain Smith was amazed and "repented 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 13 

him." Her warm heart was wounded at his formal greeting. She recalled her girl- 
hood in Virginia, the circumstances of his preservation in the wilderness and all other 
circumstances of their old time friendship, and insisted upon calling him "father," 
of which he says "though I would have excused 1 durst not allow of that title, because 
she was a king's daughter." She would have her vvaj', however, and to the captain's 
remonstrance made answer: "You were not afraid to come into my father's country, 
and caused fear to him and all his people but me, and do you fear now that I should 
call you father? I tell you then I will and you shall call me child, and so I will be 
forever and ever your countryman." 

When early in the year 1617 Captain Argall, the same who bought our princess with 
a copper kettle, was ready to return to Virginia as a deputy governor of the colony 
Rolfe and Pocahontas were to sail with him and arrangements were made for their 
accommodation on the admiral's ship, but this wild flower of America was destined 
never to see her native woods again. At the age of twenty-two she fell a victim 
of the English climate and was buried "in ye chauncel" at the church at Gravesend. 
Her husband, Master Rolfe, who had been appointed secretary and recorder general 
of the colony, sailed as he had planned for Virginia, and her little son Thomas, whom 
she dearly loved, was left in England, where he lived with his uncle, Henry Rolfe, 
until he had completed his education. He then cast his lot with the colonists in 
Virginia and became there a man of wealth and prominence. He married a Miss 
Poythress and had one child, Jane, who married Colonel Robert Boiling, of Virginia. 

A few of the names of those who claim descent in direct line from Pocahontas 
through her granddaughter, Jane Boiling, are as follows: Boiling, Randolph, Gay, 
Eldridge, Murray, Whittle, Cary, Page, Blair, Meade, Kennon, Bland, Walke, 
Robertson, Cabell, West, Eppes, Wiley, Archer, Dickens, Smith, Fairfax, Fisher, 
Stanard, Morris, Stewart, l-Cinckel, McPhail, Coleman and Williams. 

Of John Rolfe, William Wirt Henry in an able address before the Virginia His- 
torical Society, in which he successfully vindicates the veracity of John Smith, the 
virtue of Pocahontas, and the honesty of Rolfe, says : "He was one of the most 
active persons of his time in developing the resources of the infant colony. He will 
be ever remembered in history, however, as the husband of Pocahontas, who, born 
the daughter of a savage king, was endowed with all the graces of character which 
became a christian princess, who was the first of her people to embrace Christianity 
and to unit in marriage with the English race, who, like a guardian angel, watched, 
over and preserved the infant colony which has developed into a great people, among 
whom her own descendants have ever been conspicuous for true nobility, and whose 
names will be honored by a grateful posterity." 

The attractive story of the princess Pocahontas as related by Captain Smith him- 
self and corroborated by cotemporary authorities, has come down to us through the 
long generations, and remains for us, despite the futile attempts of flippant iconoclasts 
to disprove it, a beautiful idyl of that spontaneous sympathy which the better feelings 
of the human heart move to action at the coming of their appointed times and 
circumstances. 

Generations more of human life and its activities may come and go, and cen- 
turies more may roll away, but the romantic incident of heroic interposition which 
occurred in the wilderness of the Chickahominy will still be household words and 
noble incentives in the homes of every descendant of the adventurers who followed 
the lead of Gosnold to the shores of the Chesapeake. 



14 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 
OLD HOMESTEADS OF FAIRFAX COUNTY. 



"They bring to us who linger still 
Fond memories of a distant shore, 
Whose headlands with the years recede 
And dimmer grow forever more. 



O'er lapse of time and change of scene 
And weary waste which lies between 
In loving way our hearts we lean 
And keep their memories ever green." 



There are those who have no inclinations in common with the antiquarian spirit 
which loves to visit old homesteads and their peculiar surroundings, no sympathy for 
the kindly instinct which tempts to traverse the long neglected gardens and fields, 
the ways which were trodden by the busy feet of generations of toilers long since dust, 
no reverential impulses which lure from the beaten paths of labor and traflfic to the 
family burial places where these generations sleep in obscurity and loneliness aftet- 
the end of life's fitful fever. By such, our efforts in the patient, tedious work of 
searching out, and gathering up into shape from rare old tornes of print, or musty 
ledger or journal of fading script in nook or corner, or from torn and crumbling 
letter and the recitals ot living witnesses the widely scattered facts of the by gone days 
will hardly be appreciated. To them stories of the faded past are, as naught. They 
have little of the reverential feeling for the times when sire and grandsire were strug- 
gling in the days of manhood or womanliood to establish their homes and neigh- 
borhoods. 




AN OLD FAIRFAX HO.MFSTKAD. 



There are others tor whom these old time inernorials have an interest, a fascination 
strong, and abiding as life itself; who love to visit the plain, antiquated mansions 
yet left as landmarks here and there at wide intervals over the land, who delight to 
loiter in the lanes and paths, and by the melancholy hearthstones, who will gather 
with reverential hand, a bud or a blossom or a leaf as they pass, and in so doing find 
sweet recompensing solace for their care. It is in the appreciation and reverence of 
these accordant spirits that our encouragement and reward must be. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 15 

Everything relating fo those past times ought surely to have a fascination for us 
now, the old roads and paths, the springs running to waste, the dismantled gardens, the 
daffodils and jonquils coming up in their wonted places at the return of every spring 
time, the old apple and pear trees, scathed by many a storm but still showing here 
and there a blossom for fruitage, and the grape vme gnarled and twisted, still sending 
forth its tendrils and reaching out for support as when it once clambered the doorway 
trellis and shaded the garden walk. 

Why should not these old home sites have a warm place in our affections ? They 
are the places where generations of our kind and tongue were cradled. From 
under their roofs went forth' as the years passed on and the hives swarmed, to plant 
anew the scions of families and neighborhoods along all lines of civilization in every 
region of the habitable earth. Then why should we not love to linger in the old 
paths and highways and by the deserted thresholds and wasting fountains? 

Are they not hallowed to us And baby's joys and childish fears 

By mother's songs of long gone years, And youthful hopes and joyful tears? 

This desire for retrospection, this fondness for going back to see how our predecessors 
lived, wrought and struggled in their day and generation, to know of the employments, 
the social diversions and enjoyments which occupied their lives and filled up the 
measure of their being is an attribute which appeals to something more than mere 
curiosity. It appeals to the sacred ties of family league and kinship, reaching back- 
ward and forward, building the generations of men together with enduring compact 
and drawing out the plaintive music of our being from the solemn alternation of the 
cradle and the grave. 

It is much to be regretted at this late period in our history that some one imbued 
with a love for colonial lore had not undertaken fifty or seventy five years ago the 
work of collecting and preserving all the scattered materials for a history of the old 
colonial homesteads of Fairfax county. Then there were many persons still living in 
the neighborhoods who could have given authentic relations of the events and cir- 
cumstances they had lived through or had known of from those who went before them, 
which, with their passing away were irretrievably lost. If now we could recall this 
vanished lore and learn when and by whom all these ancient homesteads were found- 
ed, and have correctly mirrored to our visions the generations of life histories in the 
past, how grateful would we feel to the painstaking chroniclers who anticipated the 
delight their pages would afford us long after they had joined the innumerable 
caravan. 

In many a lone and sequestered surrounding of our old county still lurks the in- 
spiration for historic reverie or enduring fiction. 

The homesteads of families most prominently associated with the stirring events of 
our colonial history were nearly all of them established in the decade between" 1730 
and 1740, notably those of Mount Vernon, Gunston, Belvoir, Lexington, Newington, 
Hollin Hall, Towlston Hall, Mount Eagle, Cedar Grove, Vaucluse, Clermont, Abbing- 
don and Clifton, every one of them, excepting the one first named was built of brick 
and stone in a substantial manner, with thick walls, and generally with great outside 
chimneys, having capacious fire places for roaring fires fed by well seasoned billets of 
oak and hickory wood. The style of architecture in all of them was much the same. 
The apartments v/ere large and rambling, the ceilings high, and wainscotted walls of 
oak or walnut finish were common. The roofs were steep, and the roomy attics they 
enclosed were lighted by dormer windows. A spacious veranda was the adjunct of 
every dwelling and there was no lack of clambering vines about all the walls and 
gables. Some of these, as at Belvoir and other ruined places are still to be seen 
making a hard struggle for existence among the heaps of brick and stone. 

The preservation of such of the old homesteads among us as have so far escaped 
destruction by fire and neglect should be a matter for serious consideration to all 



16 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



who revere the past, and delight to cherish its many interesting associations, Belvoir 
and Nevvington, the old parsonage of Truro parish, Hollin Hall, Towlston Hall, Vau' 
cluse and Clermont and Lexington and many others are no more. A few are left 
us as landmarks and among them Gunston, the home of George Mason, and Wood- 
lawn the once stately country seat of Eleanor (Nellie Custis) Lewis, built by the 
munificence of George and Martha Washington. 




THESHIPSWHICH CARRIEDTHE Fl RST SETTLERS TO JAM ESTOWN 

IN 1607-24. 



Whose are the Ships that are sailing 

Over the stormy sea, 
Bending and sw.iying and tossing 

As reeds in the wind storm may ? 



And whither away are they sailing 

Into the distant west, 
What shore remotely lying 

Is the haven of their quest ? 



When we read the story of the adventures of the Grecian Princes who voyaged to 
Colchis with Jason more than three thousand years ago to bring back the "golden 
fleece;" one of the particular features of interest to us in the account is that the ship 
in which the heroes made their world renowned expedition was named Argo. Later 
down in the course of the centuries the same interest attaches to the frail caravals 
of Columbus, the "Santa Maria," the "Pinta" and "Nina," which in 1492 bore him, 
and his crews from the port of Palos in Spain to the as yet unknown shores of the new 
world ; to the Dol[)hin, the small ves--el of Verazzini, the Florentine navigator, which in 
1524 first touched upon the coast of North Carolina and thence plowed the waters of the 
Atlantic coast into far northern latitudes ; to the "Gabriel" and the "Michael, ""the 
two stout little barks of twenty-four tons apiece, which in 1576 weighed anchor and 
set their sails in the Thames off Old London Bridge" to bear Admiral Martin Fro- 
bisher and his companions wcstwar.l over the Atlantic in search of the El Dorados 
of Cathay; to the "Golden Hind" in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the 
globe in 1580 ; to the "Squirrel," a bark of ten tons only, in which the noble Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, sailed into the harbor of St. John, on the shore of New 
Foundland, raised a pillar inscribed with the arms of England and took possession 
of the territory in the name of his sovereign, Qtieen Elizabeth, and in which, on his 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 17 

homeward voyage, he went down at midnight into the ocean's stormy depths, con- 
soling his brave companions with the assurance that "they were as near to heaven 
on the sea as on the land ;" to the "Speedwell" and "Discoverer," the small ships 
of Martin Pring which in 1603 first explored the coast and bays of Maine; to the 
"Half Moon" in which the adventurous Henry Hudson and his men in 1609 explored 
the same coast and opened the way to the first settlement of New York; to the "Restless" 
of Adrian Block who with it in 1613 entered Long Island Sound and explored its 
contiguous waters; to the "May flower" which in 1620 carried the "pilgrims" from 
Delfhaven to the Plymouth rock; to the "Ark" and the "Dove" which in 1634 
brought Leonard Calvert and his two hundred followers to lay the foundations of 
civil and religious liberty in Maryland; to the "Key of Calmar" and the "Griffin" 
of the Swedish West India Company, which in 1638 conveyed the Swedes and Finns 
to the shores of the Delaware; and to the "Welcome" which in 1682 bore the en- 
lightened lawgiver and wise statesman, William Penn, of ever blessed memory, and 
his peaceful colonists to found the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

The "Virginia Company of London," chartered in 1606, to whom had been ac- 
corded the rights and franchises of colonization previously granted to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, by Queen Elizabeth of England, during the same year, fitted out their expe- 
dition of colonists for Virginia in three vessels, the largest of which did not exceed 
two hundred tons burthen. They were the "Sarah Constant" in charge of Captain 
Christopher Newport (commander of the fleet,) carrying seventy men; the "God 
Speed." in charge of Captain Christopher Newport, carrying fifty-two men, and the 
"Discoverer" a pinnace in charge of Captain John Ratcliffe, carrying twenty men. 
They cleared from London the 19th of December, 1606, but were detained by un- 
favorable weather in the Downs until the ist of January, 1607. On the 26th of April 
following, after a tedious voyage by way of the Canary Island, they were driven by a 
storm into Chesapeake bay ; and on the 13th of May they landed at a point on one 
of its rivers which in honor of their sovereign they called James, and began the 
settlement of Jamestown. 

Unlike the storied ship which carried Jason and his companions to Colchis, the 
frail ships which came like wandering birds over the wide and lonely wastes to the 
wilderness lands ot our Atlantic coast, brought no chimerical nor mythical dreamers, 
but men bent on solid realities — men in quest of homes under new conditions; men 
who were to be the beginners under the most adverse circumstances of a great and 
flourishing commonwealth. Of these ships of the long ago, what after their historic 
voyages? No chronicler has told us to what other ports they sailed and in wha> 
havens they found rest at last. 

The planting of the colony at Jamestown, the first permanent settlement on our 
Atlantic coast, and the florid accounts carried back to England by every returning 
adventurer of the vast and varied resources of the new country for trade and com- 
merce, stimulated greatly the building of sea going vessels, London at that time was 
over-crowded with idlers and adventurers of every description who looked hopefully 
across the ocean to improve their condition. Some of these could muster sufficient 
resources to pay their passage, but thousands came over under contract to pay their 
way in labor, after landing. 

In the proceedings of the "Virginia Company of London" which had in charge 
the fostering of the young Virginia colony we find mention of the following names 
of Ships which that company fitted out and sent to the colony from 1607 to 1624, 
the Discovery, Pheonix, Diana, Falcon, Mary Margaret, Unity, Blessing, Swallow, 
Virginia, Deliverance, Patience, Delaware, Blessing, Hercules, Dainty, Elizabeth, 
Mary and James, Star, Prosperous, Trial and Three Carvills, to r6ii. 

Between 161 1 and 1624 were fitted out and sent the Marmaduke, Jonathan, Lon- 
don, Furtherance, Bonny Bess, Treasurer, Abigail, Merchant, Prosperous, Marigold, 
Elizabeth, Bona Nova, Tiger, Hercules, Swan, Warwick, John and Francis, Sarah. 



18 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Treasure, Elizabeth, Susan, George, Diana, Sampson, Neptune, Eleanor, Gift, Edwin, 
Falcon, Swan, Adam, Bona Ventura, Concord, Sea Flower, and others, which plowed 
the waters of onr coast in those long faded times and folded their white wings and 
dropped their anchors in every bay and river and creek of the red men's ancient 
possessions. They brought the pioneers, the forerunners in the wilderness wastes, 
the founders of our civilization who were to make the rough ways smooth and the 
crooked ways straight, but they passed in the night and were seen no more. 

The timbers of some of them, keel and keelson and broken ribs and rusted bolts 
may yet be resting deep under beds of silt and drift in the home havens of Old England 
after last voyages. Some of them perhaps in voyages ill starred, went down in storm 
and tempest to lie forever beneath the fathomless depths of mid ocean. 

These ships were from seventy to three hundred tons burthen, and nearly every 
one of them brought a welcome consignment, of "young, handsome and honestly 
educated maidens" to be disposed of to accepted and worthy colonists at "one hun- 
dred and twenty pounds of good leaf tobacco each. This was to pay in part the 
expenses of migration. 

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA. 

OUTLINES OF EARLY HISTORY. 

In the year 1634, twenty-eight years after the landing of the English colonists at 
Jamestown, Virginia, the various settlements which had been made by them over 
the new territory, were by an act of the General .-Assembly of the province organized, 
into eight distinct shires or counties, with the following names and locations: The 
Isle of Wight, west of the James river ; Henrico, Warwick, Elizabeth City, James 
CAly, York, and Charles City, between the James and the Rappahannock rivers, and 
Northampton on the eastern shore of Chesapeake bay. In 1648 the isolated settle- 
ments which had been made at Chicoen on the shores of the lower Potomac, were 
organized into another county with the name of Northumberhnd. Its boundaries 
were defined as embracing all the territory lying between the Potomac and Rappa- 
hannock, and the head waters thereof, and which afterward by inheritance became 
the sole possession of Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, through a royal grant of Charles 
Second to his grandfather Thomas, Lord Culpeper, for a time provincial governor, 
and known as the Northern N^ck of Virginia. With the rapid accession of immi- 
grants from the mother country the tide of colonization advanced steadily up the 
rivers and their tributaries and in 1653 was organized the county of Westmoreland. 
From Westmoreland in 1673, was formed the county of Stafford. From Stafford in 
1730 was formed the county of Prince William and from Prince William in 1742 was 
established the county of Fairfax. The Hon. William Fairfax, a cousin and the 
fagent of the lord proprietor had come up from Westmoreland a few years before and 
founded his home of Belvoir on a tract of twenty-five hundred acres lying next below 
the estate of Mount Vernon and between the tributaries of Epsewasson and Accotink. 
He opened here an office for the disposition of the Fairfax lands, though patents for 
a large portion of them had already been issued in tracts of from a thousand to ten 
thousand acres and the most of them, too, were cleared of timber and under cultiva- 
tion. The timber then being counted of little value, the trees were girdled, and 
when dead were felled, cut into logs, rolled together in great heaps and burned on 
the ground, their ashes serving to still more fertilize the already enriched and luxuriant 
crops. These burnings made red the skies of the autumns and were occasions of 
night time jubilees to the negroes, who came in to assist from all the surrounding 
plantations, and there was never stint of old Jamaica or kindred grogs to stimulate 
to hearty work and exuberance of African jollity. Tobacco from the first was the 
staple product of the soil and was deemed by the planter the sine qua non of his 
existence, and its production, supply, demand and price were the all engrossing 
themes of discussion at the cross roads tavern, the village store and the court sessions. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 19 

Tobacco was interwoven with all the woof and warp of Virginia's early life. Many 
acts of the General Assembly were passed regulating its culture, and one prerogative 
of the early vestry of the established church was to appoint "processioners" — reput- 
able free holders — to make and return enumeration of all tobacco plants in each parish. 
The salaries ot church ministers and civil officers were paid in the weed and it, or 
notes representing it in the store houses, were the currency of the country. The 
salary of a minister was 16,000 pounds of it per annum, the value of which varied from 
^40 to j£So in money. A "sweet scented parish" was worth more than an Orinoco 
parish. There was a deduction of eight per cent, for cash, and tobacco was sometimes 
as low as six shillings per hundred weight current money. 

Soon after the organization of the county the General Assembly ordered that com- 
modious warehouses should be erected at the Occoquan "ferry" and on the Potomac 
at Belle Haven just above the miouth of great Hunting Creek, and that all the to- 
bacco coming in by the various rolling roads should be stored there for inspection 
by the regularly appointed inspectors. These two points were made ports of entry 
and soon became busy marts of traffic, sending out for many years by ships to foreign 
ports, cargoes of tobacco and other valuable products. The town of Alexandria was 
chartered by an act for erecting a town at Hunting Creek Warehouse, in the county 
of Fairfax, 1748. The land dedicated for the town was vested in the Right Honor- 
able Thomas, Lord Fairfax, the Hon. William Fairfax, esq., George William Fairfax, 
Richard Osborne, Lawrence Washington, Wm. Ramsay, John Carlyle, John Pagan, 
Gerrard Alexander, Hugh West and Philip Alexander. 

The town of Colchester was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly in 
1753 and laid off in 1754 by county surveyor George West on land belonging to Dr. 
Peter Wagener. The charters for both towns contained very much the same pro- 
visions and were secured mainly by the influence of Major Lawrence Washington, 
then representing the new county in the House of Burgesses. 

The first court sessions of the county were in all probability held at Colchester, 
but the minutes of them have not been preserved. The first minutes which appear 
on the books of the clerk's office are those of the year 1752. Then it was ordered 
by the court that the county records be removed from Occoquan Ferry presumably 
to the new courthouse which had been built on lands donated by Wm. Fairfax. The 
.site, now known as court house hill, two miles north of Vienna on the old Braddock 
road leading from Alexandria through Clark's and Key's Gaps to the Shenandoah. 
General Sir Peter Halket, with his brigade, consisting of the 44th British regulars 
and several companies of provincials, a part of Braddock's army, camped there on 
the night of April 11th, 1755. 

At that time all the neighborhoods north of Alexandria, being isolated and strug- 
gling, were in a state of alarm from the incursions of hostile Indians from beyond 
the mountains, and the holding of the sessions in the new courthouse was evidently 
of short continuance, not longer probably than three or four years, as appears from 
the following clause in the will of William Fairfax: 

"Unto my son George William I devise fourteen hundred acres of land called 
Springfield, together with the late courthouse." 

On the court minutes of 1752 is a record of a petition of the inhabitants of the 
county "against the removal of the sessions, and that the courthouse be fortified," 
and this is all the light which the existing court minutes throw upon the matter. 

In 1755, the year of the Braddock war, the following act was passed by the General 
Assembly ; 

"That the sum of ten pounds shall be paid by the treasurer of this colony to any 
person or persons for every male Indian enemy, above the age of twelve years, by 
him or them taken prisoner, killed or destroyed within the limits of the colony at 
any time within the space of two years after the end of this Assembly." 



20 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

From Freedom Hill the sessions were moved to Alexandria, where ihey were con- 
tinued until about iSoo, when they were again moved to their present place. Catesby 
Cooke was the first clerk, from 1742 to 1746; John (iraham the next, from 1746 to 
1752; Peter Wagner next, from 1752 to 1795; Geo. Deneale next, from 1795 to 1801. 
The first justices mentioned \n the records were Lewis Elzey, John Minor, Moses 
Linton and John Carlyle. In 1751 the names of William Fairfax, George Wm. 
Fairfax, Chas. Broadwater, Benj. Sebastian, Jno. West, Dan'l McCarty, Jno. Turley, 
Ed. Payne, Wm. Elzey and Lewis Elzey appear as justices, 1752 — Ordered that there 
be erected in the town of Alexandria a whipping post and stocks, also a ducking 
stool for the punishment of offenders. All county officials were then obliged to take 

the following oath: "I,- , do solemnly declare that there is no substantiation in 

the sacrament of the Lord's supper, nor the elements of bread and wine, nor afier 
the consecration thereof by any one whatsoever." Same year ordered that the sheriff 
collect of every titheable person seven pounds of tobacco, the county levy for that year. 
Ordered that Wm. Fairfax and Geo. Wm. Fairfax be executors of Lawrence Wash- 
ington. 1755 — Panel of grand jury : Townsend Dade, Henry Gunnell, Thos. Shaw, 
Jas. Speer, Sanford Remy, Jno. Jenkins, Thos. Lewis, Ed. Nash, Wm. Boylston, 
Davis Piper, Chas. Thrift, Wm. Buckley, William Kitchen, Benoni Halley, Jno. 
Ashford, Daniel Tramwell, Richard Sanford, Jno. Barry and Rob Sanford — "sworn 
and charged to well enquire and true presentement make of all crimes and mis- 
demeanors." 

Bounties of one hundred and fifty pounds ot tobacco ordered to be paid for the 
heads of young wolves not exceeding the age of six months, and one hundred pounds 
of tobacco for heads of older wolves. Every claimant for these rewards was required 
to produce to the court a certificate from a justice of the peace that 4ie was legally 
entitled to them by the act of assembly, after the heads had been produced and 
sworn to. 

1755 — "John Loftin, of Truro Parish, presented by the grand jury for absenting 
himself from divine service within this two months last to the knowledge of two 
witnesses. The penalty for each offence of this kind was fifty pounds of tobacco." 
Certificates were presented by many of the inhabitants for pay tor impressment of 
horses for his majesty's service in General Braddock's army. They were allowed and 
paid at from 250 to 300 pounds of tobacco per head. William Fairfax indicted for 
not keeping public roads in order. Charles Tyler and John Posey granted license 
to keep ordinaries at Colchester. 

It was ordered by this court that the following scale of prices for diet and drinks 
be posted at least six feet high on the doors of all ordinaries in the county : For a 
gallon of rum, 8s: for a gallon of brandy, los; for a quart of cider, 4d; for a quart 
of Madeira, 2s 6d; for a gill of rum made into a punch, 6d; do, with loaf sugar, 4d; 
one doz. Eng. strong beer, is 2d; one doz, Eng. porter, is; a hot diet with small 
beer or cider, is 6d; a cold diet with small beer or cider, is; a night's lodging with 
clean sheets, 6d; one gallon corn or oats for horse, 4d; stabling and fodder for horse 
34 hours, 6d. 

This scale of prices was continued the legal regulation for all ordinaries or taverns 
for half a century. Ordered, by the court, that a ducking stool be erected at the 
court house for the "ducking of disobedient wives and gossiping, scandal making 
women," of the Mrs. Grundy type; also a whipping post. The ducking stool was 
ordered according to the following act of assembly passed in 1665 ; it had antiquity 
if not propriety in its favor : 

"Whereas often times many babbling women often slander and scandalize their 
neighbors for which their poor husbands are often brought into chargeable and 
vexatious suits and cast into great damages. 

"Be it therefore enacted, That in actions of slander occasioned by the wife as afore- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 21 

said, after judgment is passed for the dammages, the woman shall be punished by 
ducking ; and if the slander be so enormous as to be adjudged a greater dammage 
than 500 pounds of tobacco, then the woman to suffer an excess of ducking 
accordingly." 

The salaries of all county officials, the allowances of Burgesses and all court charges 
and fines were paid in tobacco. The Sheriff for whipping a person was paid twenty 
pounds — for putting an offender in the stocks ten pounds, for pillorying a person 
twenty pounds, tor ducking a scolding woman twenty pounds, for hanging a felon two 
hundred and fifty pounds, for recording a deed the charge was one hundred and 
fifty pounds, for probating a will fifty pounds and for a marriage license twenty pounds. 
Warehouses for this staple commodity were established by law in different parts of the 
county and inspectors appointed to inspect all deposits made therein. 

Tobacco for many years constituted nearly the entire currency — gold and silver 
were rarely seen. It was the main hope and wealth of the people, and at all times 
and seasons formed the chief topic of conversation. Nearly all the lands were 
planted with it, and the area of its cultivation was only diminished when the fertility 
of the soil was exhausted. None but free-holders and house-keepers to have the 
right of suffrage in the viva voce elections for Burgesses. Every Burgess to receive 
an allowance of one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco a day for his services 
during the sessions of the Assembly, and an allowance for expenses for traveling to 
and from Williamsburg — for these expenses the Fairfax member was allowed pay for 
twelve days. George Mason of Gunston appeared before the court, took the oath 
according to law, and repeated and subscribed to the test, pursuant to receiving his 
commission as colonel. It was ordered that Joseph Brown, Cain, Abraham, Joan, 
Harry, Beulah and Frank, negroes belonging to Col. Henry Lee, be added to the 
list of titheables in Cameron parish. By an act of Assembly "all male persons of the 
age of sixteen years and upwards, all negroes, mulattoes and Indian women of the 
same age, and all wives of free negroes, mulattoes and Indians were declared to be 
titheable and chargeable for defraying the public, county and parish levies. 

All through the summer and autumn of 1775, ^fter the disastrous repulse of Brad- 
dock, the frontier settlements between Alexandria and the valley and beyond, were in 
continual fear of roving parties of Indians, now bolder and more vindictive than ever 
against the advancing settlers, and more persistent in their encroachments toward the 
tide waters. Gov. Dinwiddie, under date of October 18, writes to Col. Washington, 
then in command at Winchester : "I wish you may get a troop of horse from Fairfax 
county, as they will be of great service in clearing the woods of savages and I shall 
be glad if they can send down a number of scalps." 

It was "ordered that every soldier of the militia was to be furnished a firelock with 
one flint well fixed to the same, a double cartrouche box and three charges of powder, 
and to be continually in readiness to appear at the place and time appointed for 
muster and exercise, and to keep at the place of his abode one pound of powder and 
four pounds of shot or balls and to bring the same into the field when required." 

In 1757 by an act of assembly creating the county of Loudoun, Fairfax, which on 
the north had extended to the Blue Ridge mountains, ceased to be a frontier county. 
The new county absorbed the boundaries of Cameron parish. 

After 1758 the inhabitants of the county were for a while comparatively safe from 
Indian depredations. But in 1762, after the treaty of Fontainebleau, by which all 
the territory claimed by the French in America, passed to the English, the vindictive 
spirit of the Indians, smothered far a long season, was again aroused to spread terror 
and alarm among the frontier settlers. Pontiac, the cunning and insidious chief of 
the Ottawas and always the friend of the French, by inflaming harangues and repre- 
sentations that the ancient hunting grounds of the red men were to be wrested from 
them by the English, succeeded in uniting the yet lingering tribes in a conspiracy 



22 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

for their general destruciion. The plot was well laid and conducted with Indian 
craft and secrecy. At a concerted time an attack was made upon all the outlying 
posts from Detroit to Fort Pitt, where now stands the city of Pittsburg, Many of 
the small stockaded forts, the places of refuge of woodland neighborhoods, were sur- 
prised and sacked with remorseless butchery. The frontiers of Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land and Virginia were laid waste; traders in the wilderness were plundered and 
slain, hamlets and farm houses were wrapped in flames and their inhabitants mas- 
sacred. This war, from the daring savage chief who instigated it, is known in history 
as the war of Pontiac. It vvas not of long continuance though disastrous in its effects. 
Most prominent among the provincial spirits engaged in suppressing the insurrection 
was Captain Daniel Morgan, the wagon boy of the Occoquan. 

From 1763 to 1783, a period covering the revolutionary struggle and in which there 
must have been made on the books entries of many events which would now ma- 
terially help in writing the history of that stormy time no records now appear. 

After 1785 no more entries are to be seen in the court minutes of penalties for fail- 
ure to pay tithes for ecclesiastical purposes, or neglect to attend divine worship on 
Sundays. In that year by an act of the General Assembly, Patrick Henry being 
governor, through his influence, assisted by such liberal spirits as Jefferson, Madison, 
Mason and George Washington, the law of the colony, which for one hundred and 
sixty- six years had protected the Anglican church in its policy of exclusive intoler- 
ance and had existed as a barrier in the way of many progressive influences for the 
advancement of the colony, was annulled and entire religious freedom was thenceforth 
accorded to all dissenters, and Quakers, Catholics, Baptists and Presbyterians who 
had become a numerous population and to whom the "establishment" had become 
exceedingly oppressive, were free to worship according to their conscientious 
dictates. 

In 1790 by an act of Congress creating the District of Columbia, a scope of land 
ten miles square lying partly in Maryland and partly in Virginia, for the seat of the 
United States government, old Fairfax lost another portion of its territory. The 
county of Alexandria was then established and the court sessions and records were at 
the same time removed to and permanently established at their present location. 
The foregoing outlines of Fairfax county history are necessarily limited, but very 
many additional facts and circumstances of a varied character in its connection will 
be found elsewhere in the course of our historic series. 

THE DUCKING STOOL FOR COM MOIM SCOLDS. 

The English settlers brought to the United States the ducking stool as an instrument 
of punishment, as they imported the common law. At Plymouth, whence the Pil- 
grims sailed can be seen today the old ducking stools. Even in 1808 a woman was 
ducked there. The Puritans brought over the common scold law, and it was adopted 
in New Jersey and Delaware. In 1889 the Grand Jury of Jersey City indicted 
Mrs. Mary Brady as a common bcold. It was found to be there, as here, still an 
indictable offence, and that the ducking stool was yet available as a means of punish- 
ment, not having been specifically abolislied by the Revised Statutes. 

The stool was used in Virginia, for Bishop Meade, in his "Old Churches, Ministers, 
and Families in Virginia," writes of ducking scolds from a vessel in the James River. 
From the Old Dominion the practice of thus treating scolds reached Pittsburg. It 
would be digressing to repeat the history of the establishment of courts in this city 
by Virginia, which began Feb. 21, 1775. On the second day of that court, the birth- 
day of George Washington, then but 43, the Sheriff was ordered to employ workmen 
.to build a ducking stool at the confluence of the Ohio with the Monongahela. 

By patient delving one can dig up much curious information about the ducking 
stool. Allusions to it occur in English chronicles all through the sixteenth, seven- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 23 

teenth, and eighteenth centuries. Scolding women in those olden times were deemed 
offenders against the public peace. Blackstone in his "Commentaries" treats of the 
common scold in his chapter on "Public Wrongs." After discussing offences of 
graver degree his prelude is: "To descend next to offences whose punishment is 
short of death." These offences are such, he says, "as annoy the whole community 
in general, and not merely some particular portion, and, therefore, are indictable, 
not actionable, as it would be unreasonable to multiply suits by giving every man a 
separate right of action for what damnifies him in common only with the rest of his 
fellow subjects." 

Then the great jurist treats of six classes of public nuisances, and concludes: 
"Lastly, a common scold, communis rixatrix (for our law Latin confines it to the 
feminine gender,) is a public nuisance to her neighborhood. She may be indicted, 
and if convicted placed in a certain engine of correction, called the trebuckett casti- 
gatory, or cucking stool, which in the Saxon language is said to signify the scold 
stool though now it is frequently corrupted into ducking stool because the residue of 
the judgment is that when she is so placed therein she shall be plunged in water for 
her punishment." 

Blackstone was a better jurist than etymologist. There was in even as early as the 
fifteenth century the punishment of sitting in the cucking stool for using short weights, 
selling bad ale, and scolding, but it was a chair of disgrace placed in front of the 
offender's own home. In the lapse of time the cucking and the ducking sti)ol became 
synonymous. 

In his "Travels in England" in 1 700, Mission writes: "The way of punishing 
scolding women is pleasant enough. They fasten an arm chair to the end of two 
beams, twelve or fifteen feet long, and parallel to each other, so that these two pieces 
of wood, with their two ends, embrace the chair, which hangs between them upon 
a sort of axle, by which means it plays freely, and always remains in the natural hori- 
zontal position in which the chair should be, that a person may sit conveniently in it, 
whether you raise it or let it down. They set up a post on the bank of a pond or 
river, and over this post they lay, almost in equilibrium, the two pieces of wood, at 
one end of which the chair hangs over the water." 

The English poets have had their thrusts at the ducking stool, when their eyes in 
fine frenzy rolling seem to have caught inspiration from the temper of the shrew. In 
1665, in "Homer a la Mode," the poet sings: 

She belonged to Billingsgate And sat in the bottom of a pool, 

And oftentimes had lid in state, Enthroned in a cucking stool. 

Butler in his "Hudibras" has the fling : 

March proudly to the river side 
And o'er the waves in triumph ride. 

Bourne relieves his mind ; 

Astride it set but a Xanlippe, And not a lambkin on the lea 

Thence twice or thrice, virago, dip ye, Will leave the stream more meek than she. 

West wrote a complete poem on the stool in 1780, the philosophy of which lies in 
the extracted couplet : 

No brawling wives, no furious wenches, 
No fire so hot but water quenches. 

All through England there were the stools used for ducking scolds. There was one 
at Rugby, and in 1820 a man was ducked for beating his wife. Court records reveal 
many instances where the penalty was inflicted on women. What a stool cost is 



24 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



shown by an old account in the archives of Rugby. It has a smack of legislative 
expense bill. It runs thus ; 

"172 1 — Paid for a lock for ye ducking stool and spent in town business, is. 2d. 

"1739 — Sept. 25, ducking stool repaired, and Dec. 21, a chain for ducking 
stool, 2S. 4d. 

The chair used at Scarborough, England, is yet preserved. It was last used in 
1795, when Mrs. Gamble was "ducked three times over the head and ears." In the 
museum at Ipswich is another. It has iron rods converging over the seat, with a 
ring through which to run a pole. In 1728 the constable of Morley charged two 
shillings for a pole. The stools in some cities were on wheels, and were called scold- 
ing carts. At Kingston-upon-Thames ducking was not infrequent, and the London 
Post, in 1745, reports the ducking of "a woman who keeps the Queen's Head alehouse 
for scolding, in the presence of 3,000 people." It was at Leominster, in 1809, that 
the last recorded ducking of a woman occurred in England. The stool used is pre- 
served in the jail there. Jenny Pipes was paraded through the town on the stool and 
ducked near Kenwater Bridge. 

There was another instrument of punishment ^or scolds, but not as ancient as the 
stool. It was the brank, or scold's bridle. Its modern autotype is the mask of the 
baseball catcher, except there was a sharpened plate of iron in front that hurt the 
tongue when an effort to talk was made. The brank figures in literature as frequently 
as the stool. 




THE HOME OF HUMPHREY PEAKE. 

Humphrey Peake in Colonial times was proprietor of a small plantation adjoining 
General Washington's River Farm and lying immediately on Little Hunting Creek 
and along the Old King's Highway and not far from Gum Spring. He and Wash- 
ington and their families were on intimate terms and frequently made visits to each 
other's Homes. A daughter, Nancy, was one of the society belles of the time. Her 
name is mentioned as one of the young ladies of the neighborhood who attended a 
dancing school held at homes of different planters alternately during the winter 
seasons. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



2o 



The dwelling as shown in the picture, is now but a wreck of its former self. A 
portion of it has been torn down and removed. It had great chimneys with capacious 
fire places. Wide verandas extended round the structure and the apartments were in 
good colonial style, and many a time doubtless they were lively with gay companies 
and sheltered distinguished guests on their way up or down the King's Highway. 
Washington often stopped there on his way to or from Alexandria, or when out deer 
hunting as he tells us in his diary. 

Not far from the dwelling is the old family burying ground, its graves shaded by oaks 
and pines and over grown with brambles and trailing vines. Here are some of the 
inscriptions of the moss covered stones. 

Humphrey Peake S'r, 
died january 3 i, i785, aged 54 years. 

Mary Peake, 
died november, 1805, aged 67 years. 

William Peake, 
died 1793, aged 37 years. 

early maryland history. chapter i. 

OLD PISCATAWAY AND THE COLONY OF CALVERT. 

'•Now let the ludian's paddle play By English yeomen, squared and hewed, 

Over the bright Piscataway ! And the grim flankered block house bound 

Wide over hill and valley spread With bristling palisades around — 

Once more the forest dusk and dread, So, haply shall before thine eyes, 

With here and there a clearing cut The dusty veil of centuries rise. 

From the walled shadows round it shut : The old strange scenery over lay 

Each with its farm house builded rude The tamer pictures of to-day." 

Close by the frowning summits and battlements of Old Fort Washington, in the 
county of Prince George's, Maryland, flow down the waters of the Piscataway and 
mingle with those of the broad Potomac. This stream, though beautiful and pictures- 
que to look upon, is not very prominent on the map. On some of the maps it is not 
traced at all. Nevertheless, it is one around which cluster most interesting historic 
and legendary narrations of the long vanished past, some of which I propose to furnish 
for the readers of these chapters. Its channel is nowhardly deep enough for light 
draft wood scow or fishing skiff. — But once on a time, ere the surrounding forests 
were hewn down by the English pioneers and their sloping lands were plowed up 
for tobacco and corn culture, and made loose enough to be washed down by a thou- 
sand gullies as choking sediment into its primal depths, many a stately ship and brig 
and schooner came to moor by the busy wharves of its then thriving port of Piscat- 
away town, some miles higher up, to take on cargos of tobacco and other products 
for European and West Indian markets. 

George Washington in a letter dated 1760 and written to Robert Carey & Co., in 
London, in reply to queries about the facilities for commercial trade and traffic in 
Virginia and Maryland, speaks of the Piscataway harbor and port as being among the 
best on the Upper Potomac, having good anchorage and being safe from violent 
winds. 

The first white man whose foot ever pressed the shores of Piscataway was that 
"bolde and knightly soldier and adventurer," Captain John Smith. That was two 
hundred and ninety-six years ago, when with fourteen chosen voyagers from the 
young settlement of Jamestown, he made his renowned exploration of the region 
bordering the Upper Potomac river. Here he landed in his pinnace, held parley 
with the natives, established with them friendly relations and obtained needed sup- 
plies of maize and venison. 



26 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



At the time of the coming of the Europeans this locality was the seat of the tribal 
government of the numerous and powerful nation of the Piscataways, whose doinain 
lay east of the Potomac and stretched in one direction to the hunting grounds of the 
Patuxents, and included the finest and richest portion of the territory of Maryland. 
It also embraced a part of the country bordering upon the Patapscu, including the 
sites of Baltimore and Washington. Here on the Piscatawaj river was the capital — 




the stockaded town of these fierce Algonquins where dwelt in savage state, the 
"VVeromace," or great chief. 

After the voyage of Captain Smith, we find but little mention of Piscataway in any 
existing records until the year 1623, when Governor Francis VVyatt, of Virginia, 
went in person up the Potomac and took full revenge of the Indians who had been 
accused of massacreing Capt. Si)illman and his party, some time before, at Belvoir, 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 27 

just below Mt. Vernon. Many of the Piscataway tribe were slain, their wigwams 
burned and their stores of corn carried down to Jantiestown in, the vessels of the 
expedition. 

The circumstances of the massacre noted are these. About the year 1621 the settlers 
about Jamestown being 111 extremities for subsistence fitted out a pinnace or schooner 
called the Tiger and sent Captain Henry Spillman and twenty-six companions to the 
waters of the upper Potomac with English commodities to barter with the Indians 
for their maize. 

Spillman had lived for a number of years in the colony, had traded much with the 
natives and was conversant with their language. The party ascended the stream and 
anchored their boat at a point it has been conjectured near the site of Belvoir just 
below Mount Vernon. The captain and twenty-one of his men went ashore to hold 
parley with the chief of the tribe. . While there, says an early chronicler, the vessel 
was surrounded by Indians in canoes. They clambered on to the decks and would 
have taken possession of the boat but for the presence of mind of one of the crew 
who fired a cannon which so frightened the natives that they jumped into the water 
and swam away, and presently a man's head rolled down the bluff when the five men 
weighed anchor and returned to Jamestown, Spillman and the most of his party 
were massacred but a few of them were made prisoners among them Henry Fleet who 
remained in captivity for several years but afterwards on escaping returned to Eng- 
land and in 1627 he figures again in a voyage up the Potomac in the pinnace Paramour, 
a vessel of one hundred tons burden, fitted out by William Clobbery a prominent 
merchant of London. 

When Capt. Fleet first ascended the upper Potomac in the Tiger he found the 
country all about the site of Washington very populous with the native tribes, even 
numbering thirty thousand. He ascended as far as the Falls. 

In the year 1634 Governor Leonard Calvert with two hundred of his followers, 
most of them Roman Catholic gentlemen and their servants, but some of them Pro- 
testants, dropped the anchors of their two vessels, the Ark of three hundred and fifty 
tons, and the Dove of twenty tons at the mouth of the Piscataway, with the design 
of there establishing under the provisions of a royal charter from Charles the first 
of England to his brother, Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a colony in the wilderness 
region of Maryland as yet untennanted save by roving aborigines, under whose bene- 
ficent legislative enactments all classes of its subjects might realize religious security 
and peace through the practice of justice and not by the exercise of arbitrary and 
intolerant power. The Indians of the locality to the number of five hundred warriors 
came down in fierce array to the banks of the river; and here again Fleet ap- 
pears upon the scene of action as an interpreter. After the first apprehensions of 
fear had been allayed, the governor asked their permission to make a settlement 
within their borders, and live with them in "peace and brotherly love." To this 
proposal the only ansA^er of the Chief or Emperor was, that "they might do as they 
wished — they could either stay or go." 

It was near the close of the month of March. The great forests were budding 
into foliage. Wild animals were roaming in their midsts and fish swarmed in all 
the waters. From the hillsides gushed forth springs innumerable. Everywhere ap- 
peared unlimited resources for life, luxury and contentment. It seemed to them "a 
goodlie and most inviting place to sit downe" after the perils and hardships of their 
long ocean voyage; and doubtless they would have done so; but Calvert and his 
companions concluding that it might not be so safe for them to begin their prospec- 
tive settlement so far up the river, dropped down the stream near to the Chesapeake 
Bay where, in case of hostilities from the Indians, they could flee to their ship and 
escape. 

They entered a stream sixty miles below which they called St. George's, but which 



28 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

is now known as St Mary's. Here they cast anchor again near the Indian town of 
Yoacomico; and, as at Piscataway, all the conditions seemed favorable for a "plan- 
tation." "It would be easy," they reasoned, "by presents of cloth and axes, and 
hoes and knives and other articles of civilized usages to gain the good wmII of the 
natives and to purchase their right to the soil." 

They readily gave consent that the English should occupy one half of their town 
and after the harvest of maize, become the exclusive tenants of the whole. Mutual 
promises of friendship and peace were made, so that on the 27th day of March, 1634, 
they erected the banner of old England, planted the symbol of their religious faith 
and took possession of their heritage in the name of their sovereign King Charles and 
Christ. In honor of their Queen, "Henrietta Maria/' they called their province 
Maryland, and with the declaration, "that no person professing to believe in Jesus 
Christ for or in respect of religion should be molested," they began their government 
and religious liberty then and there obtained a home, its only home in the wide 
world, at the humble village of St. Mary's;" and thence forth the persecuted Quakers, 
Baptists and other dissenters of Virginia and Massachusetts fleeing from the wraih 
of intolerance and bigotry could come in and sit down joyfully and contentedly 
within their borders with none to persecute or make them afraid. 

The "Ark and the Dove," says another, bore to the fertile soil of Maryland a 
people for whom legislative freedom and religious liberty had already been secured 
by the wise forethought and fraternal policy of tiie Lord proprietor — a people whose 
first dealings with the natives insured their homes against the depredations so often 
committed in other colonies, and thus left undisturbed the foundation? of that home 
life, and that spirit of conservatism which characterizes the Mary landers of the 
present day. 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. CHAPTER II. 

THE EARLY CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES 
ALONGTHE SHORESOF THE POTOMAC. 

With Calvert came a number of fathers or priests who were ready to take their lives 
in their hands, penetrate the wilderness haunts of the sa/ages, announce to tiiem the 
glad tidings of a better life and in fraternal spirit, labor for their conversion to the 
Catholic faith. 

A parent mission was immediately established at St. Mary's, with auxiliaries reach- 
ing to different points up the Potomac, even so far as the site of the National Capital. 
Some particulars of the operations of these self-sacrificing missionaries, one of their 
number, Father Fisher, has left u^ in a letter written by him from the settlement in 
1640, which may not be devoid of inttrest to the reader : 

"On our journeys we take with us a chest of bread, butter, cheese and dried corn, 
cut before ripening — some beans and flour. In another chest a bottle of wine for 
Mass, a bottle of holy water for bajitism, an altar stone, chalice and vestments : while 
a third chest contains trifles for ])resents for the natives, sue h as bells, combs, needles, 
thread and fish hooks, blankets and a tent for sleeping under, and arms for hunting 
and utensils for cooking food. We endeavor, if possible, to reach some English 
dwelling or Indian village at nighifall ; if not, we lie down under the branches of 
trees, build a fire, prepare a rude repast, thank God for it and rest for the night with 
as joyful and contented minds as we ever did in the more luxurious provisions of 
Europe with this present comfort, that God imparts to us foretastes of what he will 
bestow on those who labor faithfully in this life; and he mitigates all hardships, with 
a sense of pleasure, so that His Divine Majesty appears to be present with us in an 
extraordinary manner." 

Father White who has been called the "Apostle of Maryland" in its early days, in 
1639 planted his mission cross at Kitta Maquindi, the Capital of Piscataway, the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 29 

realm of the Tyac or Chief, Chitemachen or Chilomacon, who had succeeded to his 
title and power by the murder of his brother, long the reigning sovereign. This 
chief having been pre-disposed by dreams to which the Indians gave so much cred- 
ence, received the missionaries with great kindness. In these dreams it had been 
shown to him that a people with pale faces would come to his tribe from afar and 
confer upon them great blessings. 

Shortly after the arrival of Father White, the Tyac fell sick and forty conjurers 
or medicine men in vain tried ever) remedy in the range of their rude practices, when 
the missionary prescribing some simple treatments, his patient soon began to recover, 
and in time was entirely cured of his malady. This circumstance only tended to 
confirm the Chief in his favorable impression of the strangers. Then, he listened to 
their spiritual instructions, and "touched by grace," resolved to not only encourage 
missionary efforts among his people, but to set the example of embracing the faith, in 
which he was joined by his Queen and children. He laid aside the dress of skins he 
had previously worn, put on civilized raiment and began the study of the English 
language, dispensed with his concubines and medicine men with their incantations, 
and with devotion became an observer of the fasts and abstinences of the Church. 
Then, openly avowing his renunciation of all his former superstitions and idolatries, 
he was accounted "worthy to receive the holy sacrament with proper dispositions." 

Visiting St. Mary's soon after his conversion, he was received with every mark of 
consideration by the Governor and his council, and when it was considered that he 
was sufficiently instructed and his dispositions deemed certain, he was solemnly bap- 
tised on the 5th day of July, 1640, in a chapel built of bark for the occasion at his 
capital of Kitta Maquindi (Piscataway) in the presence .of Governor Calvert, his 
Secretary and many other of the principal inhabitants of the province with great 
pomp and display. In an old volume before the writer, treating of early Catholic 
missions in North America, and printed in Latin is an interesting picture of this 
baptism. 

Afterwards, his Queen, his little son, his Chief Counsellor, Mesorcoques, and many 
more of his tribe were admitted to the same blessing. The King assumed the name 
of Charles in honor of the English Sovereign. His Queen who had been the devoted 
friend of the Missionaiies, received the name of Mary. The other neophytes received 
christian names also. In the afternoon the King and Queen were remarried accord- 
ing to the riies of the Church, and then a large cross, hewn from a great tree, was 
erected, the Indian Chief, the English Governor and his Secretary, with natives and 
settlers, lending their shoulders and hands to bear it to its destination, the two Jesuit 
fathers chanting as they went, the litany of our Lady of Loretto — the murmuring 
of the river as it flowed down in its course and the depths of the great forests echoing 
their responses. 

The two Missionaries were afterwards prostrated by fever and were conveyed to 
St. Mary's. Father Altham did not rally from its effects. He sank under it and 
died November 5th, 1640. Father White began to mend after a time and gaining 
some strength, joined Father Rroek at Piscataway in order to make the mission as 
solid as possible: but he again fell sick, exciting the alarm of his brother in the 
work who feared that listening only to the admonitions of his zeal he would sink 
under his age and infirmities. Much ot the success of the Society's labors in Mary- 
land depended upon Father White, in as much as he possessed the greatest influence 
on the minds of the Indians and spoke their language with more accuracy and fluency 
than any other of the laborers. 

He translated portions of the Bible into the Indian dialect, prepared a catechism 
for the missionary and school service and set up in 1642 a printing press for publish- 
ing them, the first ever in operation in any of the British provinces. One of the 



30 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

catechisms is still preserved as a memento of those early missions in the archives of 
the Jesuit Society in Rome, 

Father Broek was to be the next victim to the climate and the hardships for mis- 
sionary labors, who after announcing the faith to the Anacos.tan orSnake tribe some miles 
higher up the river and converting tlieir Chief, died before the close of the year. 
In a letter he wrote just before his death, he closed by saying: 

"I would rather labor for the conversion of the savages, and expire on the bare 
ground deprived of all human succor and perish with hunger, than to once think of 
abandoning this Holy Work of God. From the fear of want may God grant me 
grace to render him some service, and all the rest I leave to Him. The King of the 
Piscataways lately died most piously, but God will for his sake, raise up seed for us 
in his neighbor, the Chief of the Anacc>stas, who has invited us to come to him, and 
has decided to become a christian. Many more in other localities have the same 
desire. Hopes of a rich harvest shine forth, unless frustrated by the want of laborers 
who can speak the language and are in sound health." 

Father Broek had looked forward to great results in proselytmg the natives along 
the waters of the Potomac, and had in contemplation the founding of a missionary 
school for their education, so that native teachers might be sent out to the surround- 
ing tribes. 

At St. Mary's the young Emperor of Piscataway vvas solemnly baptised, and there 
remained, to be educated in the usages of Christianity. Father While still continued 
to labor at Piscataway and the dependent missions. 

The efforts of the missionaries at Port Tobacco resulted in the conversion of nearly 
all of the natives of that locality, and there Father White was subsequently stationed 
after the descent of the Susquehannah tribes upon the Piscataways in 1641, in which 
many of both the Piscataways and white settlers were killed. 

King Chilomachen, after his baptism, strove zealously, we are told by the chron- 
icles, for the conversion of his race around him; and earnestly commended, by ex- 
ample, the ways and habits of the English as being far better for them than the savage 
usages of their fathers. Great hopes were entertained of his civilizing influences by 
the missionaries, but he died in less than a year after his conversion, "most piously 
rejoicing in the religion he had adopted." His young daughter, Annie, having been 
carefully educated at St. Mary's in the English ways and the Catholic faith succeeded 
him as Queen. 

In the year 1669, only two of the priests of the Indian missions were continuing 
in that work, and after the year 1674, their labors were much interrupted by the 
encroachments of neighboring tribes of Indians, as will be presently seen in our 
narration, and also by the visitation of the smallpox, which gre.itly wasted the native 
population along the Potomac, and toward tlie close of the century as their remaining 
numbers rapidly dwindled awav, there was but a small field left for missionary work. 
Of these missionaries, one of ih-iir faith has said : 

"Their pathway was through the wilderness and their first chapel the wigwam of 
the savage. They assisted b) pious rites in laying the corner stone of a State. They 
kindled the torch of civilization in the wilderness. They gave consolation to the 
grief stricken pilgrim. They taught the religion of Christ to the simple sons of the 
forest. The tiistory of Maryland presents no better, no purer, no more sublime 
lesson than the story of the toils, and sacrifices of her early missionaries." 

No complete list of the band of religious apostles of the Jesuit society who came to 
Maryland before 1649 has been handed down to us, but the following embraces nearly 
all of them, Andrew White styled the apostle of Maryland, John Altham, Thomas 
Capley, Ferdinand Fulton, Father Ferret, John Morgan, Philip Fisher, Roger Rigbie, 
John Knowles, Thomas Gervasse, Mr. Morley, Lawrence Starkie and Mr. Wilkinson. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 31 

"The misbionaries found these Maryland Indians, a people, generous, amiable and 
grateful ; temperate and chaste in their lives ; not moved by sudden impulse, but grave, 
deliberate and firm of purpose, and fearing nothing they went at once among them 
and shared their wild forest life. They followed them on their hunts, they launched 
the frail canoe on the waters of unknown streams, bivouaced with them in the depths 
of the primeval forests, and after chanting matins and lauds, slept fearlessly and peace- 
fully among those dusky warriors under the starry canopy of heaven." 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. — CHAPTER III. 

THE MASSACRE OF OPECH ANCANOUGH- BACON'S 
REBELLION-PASSING OF THE PISCATAWAYS. 

In 1622, twelve years before the landing of Calvert, occurred the great massacre 
of the Virginia colonists under the rule of the Indian Chief Opechancanough, the 
King of the Paraunkies, and the younger brother and successor of Powhatan, which 
was the beginning of a long series of hostilities between the whites and the Indians. 
The former were dominant and aggressive, and made but little effort to conciliate 
and secure the good will and kindly relations of their copper colored neighbors. 
The Indians were revengefu-l — never forgot their old feuds, and their animosities 
increased as time went on. 

They had before the coming of the English, selected for their villages, sites the 
most advantageous to them with regard to fishing, hunting and maize cultivation, 
and these the colonists coveted and encroached upon. The Indians before superior 
force retreated reluctantly mile by mile into the fastnesses of the wilderness and for 
many years in retaliation kept up harrassing depredations upon the advancing settle- 
ments until the laborers on the plantations, the familes in their frontier homes, and 
the wayfarers on the highways were in continual fear of being cut off by the lurking 
foemen who were from time to time succored by new accessions of other tribes from 
the head waters of the Chesapeake who had been driven southward before more 
powerful tribes with whom they had long been at war. 

At length, the troubles between the two races culminated in what is known in 
history as "Bacon's Rebellion," which occurred during the administration of Governor 
Berkley. And now again. Old Piscataway in connection with this sanguinary revolu- 
tion is to figure prominently on the historic page. 

In the year of 1675, which was before the settlement of any of the lands between 
Great Hunting Creek in Virginia, and the site of Washington City, as some of the 
straggling pioneers on the outposts south ot that stream, then in the county of Stafford 
but now in the county of Fairfax were repairing to religious service one Sunday 
morning they found the bodies ot Robert Hen, a herdsman and a friendly Indian 
mortally wounded by the door of their isolated cabin in the forest. They had been 
hacked by knives and tomahawks and left for dead. Hen had just sufficient breath 
to utter the name of Doeg, meaning that the bloody work had been done by some 
of that tribe ; a tribe of Indians who once roved over all that territory in Virginia 
from the Occoquan to the Blue Ridge. 

A boy who had been concealed in the cabin came out and told how the Indians 
had come at the break of day and committed the murders. News of the occurrence 
soon spread through the settlements, and Col. George Mason, the first immigrant of 
of that name, and Capt. Giles Brent, both living a few miles below, speedily mustered 
their rangers, started in pursuit of the Doegs whom they drove twenty miles up the 
river to their town of Assaomec. This they surrounded. 

"The King came trembling forth and would have fled, when Capt. Brent catching 
hold of his hair told him he was come for the murderers of Robert Hen. "The 
King slipt loose whom Brent shot dead with his pistol. The Indians then shot several 



32 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

guns out of their cabins. The English returned the fire, then the Indians thronged 
out of the cabins and fled. The English shot as many as they could, so they killed 
ten and brought away the King's son," Later fourteen more of them were shot. 

All of the Indians who escaped took refuge with the Piscataways. Other Indians 
fleeing before the fierce pursuit of the Virginia settlers further down the river, had 
also taken refuge under the same protection, and all were combined by solemn league ; 
and together, they proceeded to fortify themselves against the whites. They threw 
up according to a chronicler of the time, "high banks of earth around their town 
with flankers, having many loopholes, and around this they dug a ditch, and outside 
of all they built a high palisade of timbers wattled together and interlaced thickly 
by sapplings. 

Within these defences they deemed themselves safe and proclaimed defiance to the 
colonial forces. To dislodge them from their stronghold, a force of one thousand mil- 
itia was raised in Virginia, though contrary to the sanction of the Governor and his 
Council, through the efforts of Nathaniel Bacon of Virginia, one of the most popular and 
prominent men of his time. He had aroused the settlers of his province in every 
parish and they responded promptly to his call to arms. This force was placed under 
the command of Col. John Washington, the first immigrant of his name, and the 
great grand-father of George Washington, the revolutionary leader. The command 
was joined by several hundred more from Maryland and siege was laid to the fortified 
place of the savages. 

The war was waged with fierceness and malignity. After it had continued for some 
days and many desperate sallies had been made from the intrenchments, six chiefs 
were sent out to hold parley, who were shot down ; when the siegers continued their 
work until the end of six weeks. The Indians, to avoid starvation rushed madly out 
from their defences, only to fall victims to the fury of their foemen who gave them no 
quarter. The massacre of the natives was complete and vengeance was satisfied. 

The sun of the Piscataways went down in disaster and blood. The same race, 
which had held out to them the cross of Christ and announced to them in gentlest 
words the fullness and fruition of its glorious promises of, "Peace on earth and good 
will to men," brought also for them che terrible alternative of the destroying sword. 

Generations came and went and feuds continued between this hapless people and 
the colonists, until the dwindled remnants of the weaker race melted entirely away 
before the superior strength of their rapidly increasing rivals. 

It was but the old, old story of man's inconsistency and perfidy retold. The name 
alone of this powerful tribe is perpetuated in the beautiful btream which still pours 
Its tribute of waters to the sea. 

Over all the hills and valleys they so prouldly and freely traversed through their 
centuries of lordly and undisputed sway, they left their innumerable mementos in 
enduring stone, the axes, the spears and arrows they wielded, which will continue 
to be their silent witnesses to the pale faced plowman, so long as his plowshare 
shall upturn the mould of their ancient war paths and hunting grounds. 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. — CHAPTER IV. 

THE COWIIIMGOFTHE PERMANENT SETTLERS. 

The career of the missionaries to the natives along the Maryland shores of the 
Potomac as we have seen, was transient. The Indians disappeared from their ancient 
ranges and left the fathers without a field for further work. They had uttered their 
cries of warning and entreaty in the wildernesses, and they had advanced fearlessly 
through hardships and perils, zealously intent on their one single purpose. Nature's 
ereat resources everywhere teeming around them in inexhaustible array turned them 
never aside from their aim. That the great areas of rich land were waiting to be 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 33 

turned to economic account through the prosaic agencies of brawn and sinew, and 
axe and plow and hoe, was no concern of theirs. 

But the advance guard of other toilers was following closely in their tracks. These 
came not with crucifix and rosary. They bore compass ^nd chain to measure and 
parcel out the lands lor homesteads. They bore axes to level the lordly oaks of the 
forests, and plowshares to upturn the long accumulated riches of the soil beneath 
them. They brought and scattered the seeds of future fruitage and harvests, and set 
the hearth-stones of civilization; and the horn of plenty poured out its fullness in 
their paths. They were chiefiy immigrants from Scotland, well to do, rugged and 
industrious. Their religious tradiiions and usages were those of the established 
Church of England. They were not aggressive with their opinions and beliefs, but 
as these had been held by their fathers through many generations, naturally, thev 
were dear to them and they were jealous of their preservation. So, their first care 
was to organize parish, congregation and chapel. 

Long before the organization of the counties Charles, organized 1692, and Prince 
George's organized 1694, when St. Mary's county stretched away to the mountains 
and beyond interminably, the only county yet established in the Maryland colony, 
these immigrants had explored all the lands, even to the Great Falls of the Potomac, 
and were occupying many of the most desirable localities for tobacco planting; for 
this was the industry which loomed up everywhere as the main source of profits. 

The timbers fell fast before the negro gangs, the slavers had brought from "darkest 
Africa," and were rolled together and burned to ashes on the spot, which mingling 
with the already fertile soil, gave wonderful luxuriance to the growth of the "weed " 
and for many years the yield of the crops was enormous. 

These plantation log rollings, with those on the opposite shores of Virginia, were 
the first instances of this method of timber clearing ever adopted in the colonies. 
Later on, when the "North Western Territory" was divided into States, they became 
general in Ohio, Lidiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Merchants in London, Glasgow and even in Amsterdam, were not slow to find out 
the commercial advantages of this new region of country and sent their ships into 
the deep havens of St. Mary's, Port Tobacco, Piscataway, Broad Creek and An- 
acostia. At the heads of all these streams capacious warehouses were established by 
law to which the tobacc.o products of wide areas were rolled down in hogsheads to be 
inspected by legally appointed inspectors before shipping to Europe. 

In the early years of 1700, the firm of James Brown & Co., of Glasgow, sent out 
an agent or consignee to Piscataway port, and established there a general merchandis- 
ing store to supply the planters with everything needed in their dwellings, and for the 
carrying on of their outside industry in the fields; for as yet, they had manufactured 
nothing to speak of, being exclusively an agricultural people. They had smithie, 
for horseshoeing, and the making of hoes and knives for cultivating and cutting 
tobacco, and looms for the weaving of coarse cloths for negro clothing. Little more 
than these was all. The saw mill and the flouring mill were almost unknown. In 
the year 1707, it was ordered by the Assembly of Maryland that a Town he laid out 
on the South side of Piscataway River at or near the head thereof, to contain forty 
or fifty acres at the discretion of the commisioners. 

The first settlers along the Potomac chose for their dwelling places, elevated situa- 
tions, commanding pleasant views of river or creek and near to copious springs of 
water — wells they never dug. Their first houses were constructed of hewn timbers 
massive and strong, with great outside chimneys and capacious fire places where oak 
and hickory fagots made cheerful flames and glowing beds of coals. 

These dwellings were comfortable, if not luxurious, with wealth of carpets and fine 
linen and upholstery and garnished walls; and in those times now seeming to us so 



34 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

mystical and remote, when the woods everyw-here teemed with wild game, such as 
deer, pheasants, partridges and turkeys, and the streams were alive with wild fowl 
and fishes of the finest varieties, and all so easily secured, there was no stint we may 
readily imagine of appetizing bounties for the tables which were set under their roofs. 
The whole country was truly a Canaan, 

As the years passed on, the rude and primitive dwellings which had served their 
purpose well for a generation, gave place to structures more pretentious and con- 
venient of either wood or brick or of stone. Their i)roprietors had prospered with 
the profits of tobacco and other farm products, and now, could furnish their houses 
quite luxuriously, and afford stylish and fashionable apparel tor their families. This 
is well attested by reliable traditional accounts, but is more certainly established by 
items of the shipping invoices of the times yet existing and lying before me. These 
are carpets, rugs, tapestries, India, French and Holland goods, China tea-sets, Eng- 
lish dinner sets, decanters, wine glasses, wines, brandies, Brittania ware in all varieties, 
fine cutlery, mirrors, pictures, books, cloths, velvets, silks, brocades, damasks, ribbons, 
buckels, fine boots, shoes and slippers, harness, coaches, saddles, watches, rings, and 
feathers, with other luxurious and useful articles innumerable. This was some years 
before the beginning of tiie American Revolution. 

Life then on the Maryland plantations was one of continual leisure and ease. Out 
of doors the crops were planted and gathered by the bond people under the watchful 
eye of the hired overlooker. 

In doors the household routines and domestic economies, were mostly entrusted to 
the same serving people, so that the master and mistress had comparatively little care 
for the everyday necessities around them. With so much leisure as was their lot, 
if time hung heavily on their hands, we have no means now of knowing. We only 
know that they contrived a round of social diversions and amusements through the 
whole year. In summer it was fishing, or sailing or horseback riding, horseracing 
or tournaments, or merry makings under the oaks on the greens. In the long winter 
evenings there were convivial gatherings from house to house, and the Christmas 
holidays were always an uninterrupted season of festivities. As in the old country 
when the blessed anniversary came round, they lighted the yule log, hung the holly 
and mistletoe boughs and with well filled cellars and larders, feasted on the fat of the 
land. At all their gatherings intoxicants v»'ere indispensable concomitants of hospi- 
tality and friendly greeting. This we mention not disparagingly nor reproachfully ; 
for if, the usages of our marvelously progressive generation in this respect as well as 
in many others seem to us more correct and rational, we must remember, that we are 
a hundred and fifty years further on in the line of human progress and moral and re- 
ligious developments. 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. CHAPTER V. 

INCREASE OFTOBACCO AND OTHER FARM PRODUCTS COMMERCIAL 
ACTIVITY-THE REVOLUTION ARY CRISIS. 

The first permanent settlers in the counties of Charles and Prince George did 
not have long to wait for large accessions to their numbers. Alluring reports of the 
goodliness of the land they had chosen, of its favorable climate, its clear and bracing 
atmosphere, of the fertility of its hills and valleys, and of the marvelous supplies, of 
the sources of subsistence everywhere abounding in forest and stream, had gone out 
by every ship which sailed for London and Glasgow, and multitudes came to see 
for themselves and to realize whether true or false were the stories they had heard. 

The new owners were all of the same nationalities, English and Scotch, and while 
some of them were not very desirable subjects to assist in building up a State, 
the most of them were of good repute, well intentioned and possessed of means to 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



found new homes and brave the incidental difficulties in their new heritage across 
the seas. 

As the clearing of forests for cultivation extended from the Potomac to the Patuxent, 
the product of tobacco and other farm commodities increased rapidly. 

The capacious warehouses at the heads of all the streams were kept constantly filled 
and ships came and went with their cargoes. But little attention at that early time 
was given to the construction of commodious highways. Often the old Indian trails 
were slightly widened and over them the tobacco hogsheads were rolled to the ship- 
ping points. Through the hogsheads, axles ot iron were driven lengthwise and on 
the ends of these worked the shafts for the horses. That seems now to us a aueer 
and rude device for transportation, but it stood them in good stead of wagons,"^ and 
filled the purpose. A ship's cargo was about three hundred hogsheads, supplemented, 
generally by hewn timber, salt fish, hides of cattle, and pelts of wild animals. 

Those who are curious to know the names of some of the ships which came into 
the Maryland ports along the Potomac, long previous to and up to the Revolution and 
loaded with tobacco, will find them in the following list: The Clyde, Pallas, Jenny, 
Fanny, Potomac, Active, Hanston, Christie, Peggy, MoUey, Moore, Eolus, Annapolis, 
Lady Margaret, Patuxent, Diana, Mermaid, Nancy, Mellum, Echo, Glencairn and 
Friendship. How many more were engaged in that early commerce there is now 
no means of knowing. In 1774, Alexander Hamilton, the agent of Brown & Co., 
of Glasgow writing to them from Piscataway says, in a letter before us : "The ship 
Jenny arrived at this port in a bad time, so many ships having arrived just before 
her, that all the craft is employed and until some of them are despatched she must 
wait her turn." A voyage across the ocean then, required from three to five 
weeks. 

The peaceful agitation of the question of the independence of the thirteen colonies 
which had been going on here and there among them, in town and country since the 
French and Indian war, had before 1770 become almost general, and public meetings 
and conventions were the order of the times, to protest fearlessly against the arbitrary 
and oppressive measures of the mother country. As a consequence, credit was impair- 
ed in all departments of trade and traffic, business was deranged, the currency fell 
into depreciation and the collection of debts was attended by great difficulties. 

The colonists of Maryland shared largely with those of Virginia, Massachusetts, 
and Pennsylvania, in the restless spirit of discontent under grievances daily growing 
more severe and intolerable, and openly counseled armed resistance, as the only sure 
means of amelioration. They foresaw in this alternative, depression, gloom, distress 
and a bloody conflict, but beyond all, they discerned the compensating radiance of 
brighter days. 

The tobacco trade at the heads of all the streams was controlled by the capital of 
English and Scotch merchants. They had built store houses and stocked them with 
all manner of merchandise, and their agents had sold goods largelv on credit to the 
planters, anticipating the undisturbed continuance of the favorable conditions of 
supply and demand, which had prevailed from the beginning of the settlements. They 
of course were loyal to the crown, and the talk of resistance to British acts every- 
where rife in all neighborhoods, with the beating ot drums and the mustering of 
companies and regiments of troopers, and the wild rumors of conflict, brought to 
them dismay ; for they saw in them all, only depreciation of their credits and possi- 
bly the confiscation of their property. In this connection some extracts from a book of 
manuscript letters before me, written by Alexander Hamilton, agent at Piscataway, dur- 
ing the turbulent times to his firm of merchants, Brown &: Co., in Glasgow may not be 
uninteresting reading now, after the lapse of a hundred and thirty years when the 
struggling thirteen provinces have expanded to a vast Republic of forty independent 
states, with a population of eighty millions, enlightened, prosperous and happy, and 



36 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

in resources and wealth and attainments in science and the arts, the peer of the British 
realm with her thousand years of history and all her prestige of conquest and royalty. 

Under the date of May 30, 1774, he writes ; "The Post has just brought the reso- 
lutions of the city of Annapolis which you have, herein, enclosed. Despatches have 
been sent to the Burgesses of every county to come to the capital and enter into further 
resolutions. I imagine they are too violent to continue. However, time wdl show. 
Should they adhere to these resolutions, the consequences will be extremely fatal to the 
people trading with great Briitain, at all events, it will be productive of a great deal of 
mischief by encouraging those who are always tardy, to delay the payment oftheir 
debts. I am afraid I shall find it a difficult matter to make any kind ot collections, 
and it will be necessary if more lenient measures are not ))urpued, to shut up our store 
at once, and await the results of this heat. It is said the Bostonians have strongly re- 
commended to the southern colonies, to distress as much as they can, the trade with 
Scotland, giving for a reason that the Scotch members in the House of Commons were 
unanimous against the rights of the provinces. But it is suspected that it is done to 
terrify the trade of Glasgow and force them to petition the Parliament, for a repeal of 
the "Tea Act," well knowing they have very considerable interest in this part of the 
continent. The most thinking part of the people with whom I have had any conver- 
sation, blame these violent measures of the radicals of the metropolis and say that such 
an inconsiderable province as Maryland, ought not to have taken the lead at any rate, 
but to have waited the action of the more considerable ones, and then, have assembled 
and weighed maturely their 'resolves' and the consequences". 

early maryland history. — chapter vi. 

Troubles Increasing— Battle of Lexington— Great Crops of Tobacco, Wheat 
AND Corn- Burning of the Brig Peggy and Cargo ofTea at Annapo- 
lis—Daniel Morgan's Rifle Regiment— Col. Geo. Washing- 
ton Appointed General AND Commander IN Chief of 
the Continental Armies. 

The war clouds were dark, and darker gathering. The conflict at arms was inevita- 
ble. No hand could stay it. Under date ot June 13, 1774, the agent at Piscataway 
writes. "Most of the stores along the Potomac have received their summer goods, but 
have not opened them for customers, nor do they intend to, until they see how matters 
are likely to be settled between Great Brittain and the colonies. There is to be a 
meeting of the commitees of each county of this province at Annapolis, to consider 
measures for the general good of the colonies, although the Metropolis and some other 
of the committees have resolved agreeiible to the printed resolve sent you by the Jenny, 
yet it is expected these will be rejected in some measure, by the general commiitee. 
From what I can learn of the people, they are in general greatly averse to those violent 
measures, and are desirous of living in amity with Brittain. It is expected the mode 
then, will be a free exportation and a partial importation, and that agents will he select- 
ed to attend a grneral Congress of the other colonies for the purpose of effecting a 
speedy and amicable accomodation with Brittain. Should violent measures be adopt- 
ed in that assembly, it will be necessary to pack up our goods and send them home. 
The consequences will be destructive to this country. May God dispose the hearts of 
all parties to have this point settled on a firm and lasting foundation." 

August 17, 1774. "The people are alarmed at the scarcity of goods and the re- 
solves of non-importation and exportation. A general meeting of depulies from all 
the colonies is to be held at Philadelphia the i6th of September to finally settle the 
mode of proceeding with Great Brittain. I wish they may rot proceed so violently as 
they have done. They have already been greatly blamed by the most thinking people, 
who are sensible of the imi)ropriety of such inconsiderate and harsh behaviour. — There is 



OP VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 37 

the greatest prospect of good crops this year that I have ever seen since I came to this 
countr}'. There has been double the quantity of wheat made that ever was made be- 
fore. The prospect for corn is vastly greater than has been seen in the memory of the 
oldest man. The prospect for tobacco is also promising." 

October 14th, 1774. "The Congress have resolved that the non-importation take 
place the ist of December next, and it is said, though the Congress have not yet pub- 
lished their resolves, that the exportation will be stopped next September, or until the 
act of Parliament so obnoxious to the American colonies is repealed. ' In the Northern 
colonies the people are determined not to submit to be internally taxed by great Brit- 
tain, and will go any lengths rather than give up their liberties. I wish this affair may 
be amicably settled." 

October 31, 1774: "The colonies are extremely averse to the late Parliamentary 
measures, and say they never will submit to be taxed without their consent, but would 
be willing to. pay any reasonable sum toward the exigencies of the government, pro- 
vided they be allowed to raise it as they judge most convenient to themselves. This 
measure is much talked of, and if settled agreeable to the parties would prevent a great 
deal of mischief. There is no telling to what lengths a riotous mob will go, headed 
by a few violent, hot headed men." 

"An instance of it happened at Annapolis about ten days ago. A brig belonging to 
Messrs. Dick & Stewart arrived in port. On board of her was a quantity of tea, con- 
signed to Messrs. Williams, mere hants. ■ Mr. Stewart imprudently entered his vessel 
and paid the duty. The committee of the city and county assembled and resolved 
that the tea should be burned. They delivered their opinion to the people, a majority 
of whom were satisfied with that, but a few people from Elkridge and Baltimore insist- 
ed on burning the brig along with the tea. The people were again assembled, and it 
was again put to a vote, and there was a great majority for burning the tea only. 
However, those desperadoes from Elkridge and Baltimore, threatened to go back to 
their homes and bring three thousand men, put Mr. Stewart to death, pull down and 
destroy his house and burn his brig, unless he would himself go with them and fire his 
own vessel, which he was under the necessity of doing or be murdered. This step is 
generally exclaimed against by every prudent man, and particularly by the committee 
and inhabitants of Anne Arundel county, whose province it was to judge of this 
matter, looking upon it as a most scandalous insult offered to them by these people 
from the upper counties. Should the differences between Brittain and the colonies 
continue a twelve- month longer, and the act of imi)orts and exports be strictly adhered 
to, the poor people and all those who could not lay in more goods than will answer 
their present necessities-, will be in the utmost distress, and will, I am afraid, be exceed- 
ingly riotous against the better class of people who have fully supplied themselves for 
a length of time. If the British premier, who seems to be thoroughly acquainted with 
the situation of this country and its inhabitants, and a man of great firmness, should 
persevere in his plan, I am greatly afraid he will gain his points, however, it will not be 
without some blood shed. It is said the people- of Massachusetts Bay are very desir- 
ous of cutting off General Gage before he has fortified himself and received fresh rein- 
forcements from Brittain and the other parts of the continent." 

November 14, 1774: "Unless there is a repeal of the laws so disagreeable to the 
people of America, you need not send to this port any more goods. Goods are ex- 
tremely scarce, and I think there will be great distress this winter. I send you a 
Maryland newspaper for your amusement." 

May 16, 1775 • "Unless the mother country shall quickly adopt some conciliatory 
measures, all commercial intercourse between the two countries will be at an end. It is 
at this time generally believed, that the Congress now sitting at Philadelphia will put an 
immediate stop to exportation, and also take the different provincial governments in 
their own hands. Then, your property here will be in a very desperate condition for 



38 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

many of your debtors would make the troublous times an excuse for defaulting. There 
has been an engagement between the Brittish regulars and the country people of 
Massachusetts Bay." 

June, 30, 1775 : "Congress has called for 800 riflemen from the frontiers of Virgin- 
ia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, under Captain Daniel Morgan to reinforce the Pro- 
vincial army at Boston. A captain's pay to be ^7, 10 s. a month ; a lieutenant ;^6, 
an ensign ^^5 ; sergeant j£^ ; a corporal ^2, 15 s, and a private ^2, 10 s. One 
million dollars in paper money is to be issued. Col. George Washington is appointed 
General and Commander-in-Chief of the army at Boston, and three Generals are ap- 
pointed under him. Col. Charles Lee, Major Gates and Col. Putman, the two first 
British officers under half pay. There has been another engagement at Boston, in 
which Provincials evidently received a severe drubbing. Affairs everywhere here 
have a gloomy aspect. The ports will be closed on the loth of next September." 

July 15, 1775 "Congress has resolved after repeating to the public that their 
petition to his majesty has been rejected, and that an arnied force is sent out to reduce 
them to subjection, that troops be immediately raised throughout the colonies for 
defence of their liberties and that they be prepared for a bloody war." 

August 2, 1775, "I am afraid I shall he abliged to leave this country and take passage 
home. The opposition to all who will not side with the Provincials is great. The 
most unexceptionable conduct will not screen any man. The cry is, 'if they will not 
fight for us they are against us, no neutrality now.' There has been an amazing 
large crop of wheat made. I never saw such a plenty of grain of every kind, as well 
as of tobacco." 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. CHAPTER VIL 

The Minute Men— Arnold's Expedition to Quebec— Many of the 
Maryland Families leaving-Decline in Piscataway. 

The letters of the old manuscript book of the Piscataway agent which follow con- 
secutively, from the close of our last chapter, to March, 1776, are interspersed with many 
more allusions to events and circumstances then transpiring, which have become im- 
portant matters of history. 

Under date of August 26th, 1775, Mr Hamilton writes: "You will see by the 
newspapers that go home by this ship the Jean, that an association has been formed 
which all able bodied persons in the colony between the ages of 16 and fifty, are 
expected to join and appear at musters and drills whenever required by the military 
authorities ; and one-fourth of their number are to hold themselves in readiness to 
march for the public service at any time, and to any part of the continent. All 
who refuse to jom this association are to be reported to the 'committee of safety..' 
and dealt with accordingly. These troops are known by the name of 'minute 
men,' and are to be paid when on actual duty only. I have ever since the first 
congress, openly declared that I would not fight against my sovereign and the land 
that gave me birth, and lately, when there wa^ a false alarm spread through the 
country, that some Brittish troops had landed on the Patuxent, I was called upon to 
fight and I refused." 

September 2d, 1775: "I have resolved to stay here as long as I can. The 
Rev. Mr. H. A. Addison of Broad Creek Church, will leave next week. He goes to 
London. He can not approve the course of the present leaders, by whom he is 
looked upon as a friend to the British Government." 

Feb. 9th, 1775: "A detachment'of the Grand Continental army, under the command 
of Brigadier General Montgomery, had sometime ago invested Quebec, and on the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 39 

31st of December, 1775, attempted to storm it, but were repulsed with loss. The 
General, his aide, several officers, and a number of privates were killed, and many 
officers and privates were made prisoners." This was the disastrous termination of 
the fool-hardy expedition of General Benedict Arnold. 

Arnold at that time was only a reckless adventurer, horse trader and jockey, making 
a livelihood bv cunning and trickery, two attributes which served him instead of 
integrity and honesty of purpose his life long, and which brought him to grief in the 
end. But he had managed to win the confidence of Washington, and by his plausible 
and persistent representations, had induced him to believe that with a small force of 
armed men, he could in twenty days march through the wilds of Maine, surprise the 
garrison of Quebec and take possession of the city, at that time the best fortified place 
in the world. Accordingly, ten companies of infantry and three of riflemen were as- 
signed to him for the undertaking. The distance was six hundred miles, through 
silent, pathless solitudes, and was not accomplished until the end of six weeks. 
Morgan commanded the riflemen and led the expedition. 

How they made tlieir vvay through almost impassable jungles and thickets, the way- 
side brambles tearing their scanty uniforms to tatters. How they waded rivers and 
mired through swamps and morasses, how they dragged their boats and baggage 
over the long portages from stream to stream. How they suffered from hunger and 
the intense cold of the Autumn and Winter nights of that higher latitude and how at 
last, after having at the dead of night made the crossing of the rapid two mile current 
of the St. Lawrence, they fearlessly assaulted with a force of barely six hundred shivering, 
half famished men, a city with two thousand cannon on its ramparts and a garrison of 
more than a thousand well conditioned defenders in its barracks, is a story of perils, 
bravery and exciting incidents the most marvelous in the history of the Continental 
struggle. 

But Daniel Morgan, the "wagon boy of the Occoquan," was the intrepid leader, 
the animating spirit. In the darkness of the winter nights, through a blinding snow 
storm, he led his handful of valiants along the narrow, tortuous streets lighted only by 
the blazing of musketry and artillery, and never faltered in the heroic advance until 
overpowered by many times their number. Arnold fell wounded in the onset and 
had but little part in the assault, but he wrongly received the credit until after many 
long years, the facts of historic research awarded it to the true hero. 

In the autumn of 1775 very many of the families in Prince George and Charles who 
had no affiliation with the declared objects of the Provincials, made haste to arrange 
their business affairs, to leave their different neighborhoods for refuge in England or 
Scotland. Every out going sliip took its quota of this element of Maryland society. 
The Piscataway agent of Brown & Co., Glasgow, hurriedly disposed of the Merchan- 
dize of their three stores at Piscataway, Bladensburg and Lower Marlboro and fled to 
the back woods of Virginia, where he remained during the eight years of the war. 
When he returned in 1783 he found much of their property destroyed and the many 
debts which he had left uncollected, outlawed or repudiated. From this time, the 
prosperity of Piscataway town began to decline. New conditions in trade and traffic 
were taking place. The channel of the once deep river was fast filling up with the 
washings from the adjacent cultivated fields by the summer and winter floods, and 
Alexandria, more eligibly situated on the main stream, was becoming the shipjiing 
point for all the region surrounding it. 

EARLY MARYLAND HISTORY. CHAP! ER VIII. 

OLD PISCATAWAY OFTO-DAY. AN OLD Bl LL OF LADI NG. 
A LETTER OFOTHER DAYS. 

The stranger who approaches the ancient hamlet of Piscataway by the lonely Mary- 
land roads, or makes his tedious way to it by the shallow stream once so broad and 



40 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

deep, and surveys the forlorn aspect of unthrift and desolation which has settled like a 
pall, over dilapidated tenements, deserted ways and sunken piers, finds it difficult to 
realize that there was once a time when it was a prosperous port tor foreign commerce, 
with many square rigged vessels coming and going with valuable cargoes, when in the 
counting house, clerks were busy taking account of large trade and traffic in pounds 
shillings and pence and making out bills of exchange, and bills of lading for mer- 
chants in London, Glasgow, Greenock and even Amsterdam. But so it was, as the old 
ledgers and invoice and letter books of the merchants attest, and here before me, is 
one of the many bills of lading which went out with the cargoes over the stormy seas. 

"Shipped October 2C, 1760, by the grace of God, in good order and well condition- 
ed to the order of James Brown &Co., merchants in Glasgow, Scotland, two hundred 
hogsheads of Orinoco tobacco, one hundred hides, three hundred pounds of tallow, 
five bales of pelts, and sundry other articles of merchandise, by Alexander Hamilton, 
agent, in and upon the good, fast sailing ship, Clyde, whereof is master under God, for 
this present voyage. Captain James Smith, and now riding in Piscataway river. Prince 
George county, Province of Maryland, and by God's grace bound for the port of 
Glasgow, in Scotland, and so, God send the good ship and cargo in safety to her 
destined haven. amen." 

This waif saved as a brand from the burning, faded and crumbling to the touch, is 
a ready talisman to summon up for the historic student who delights in old time lore, 
the mystical events and circumstances of the long forgotten past. It is the magic link 
which reaches backward and unites the chain of the then and the now. It opens a 
vista through a hundred and forty years. It takes us almost back to the French and 
Indian war. 

Braddock had been lying in his grave in the wilderness but five years : Alexandria 
was a prospering town ofsix or seven hundred inhabitants ; Georgetown was a straggling 
hamlet, and the surveyor was running his lines through the forests where now rise the 
spires and domes of our National Capital. 

Lord Fairfax was living his recluse life in the solitudes of the Shenandoah valley, 
with only hunters, half breeds and packs of hounds for his companions. George 
William Fairfax was living in the stately mansion of Belvoir, on the Potomac, and 
Col. George Washington, in the flush of his first military honors, had just brought 
widow Martha Custis to be the mistress of his home of Mount Vernon. 

From a bundle of letters which are but shreds of their former selves, we take with 
careful and reverent hands one, whose faded lines opens for us some glimpses of retros- 
pection athwart the span of the faded years. 

Piscataway, Prince Geo. go., Md. Sept. 2, 1 775. 
Mv dear Cousin Sallie, In my last I promised you I would write again at my 
earliest opportunity, for I knew very well how anxious you would be to get tidings 
from your friends in this distant part of the world, just at this critical time. The ship, 
Margaret, now taking on cargo at this port will sail for Glasgow some time this week, 
and Capt. Spier, our mutual friend commanding, has kindly offered to carry to you 
my letter and my package containing some men>entos, among them, pieces of embroid- 
ery, the work of my own hands, also a book of pressed wild flowers which I gathered in 
the summer. Accept them, please, as slight tokens of my remembrance and abiding 
affection. You see that though long distance separates us, you have not been forgotten. 

I wrote you in my last, by the Pallas, that we were having troublous times. Every 
day since then, I believe, they have been growing still more so. 

As there are great differences of opinions among our people about resistance to the 
late acts of Parliament, there are naturally many angry contentions, and families are 
divided and estranged. Wild rumors are continually coming to alarm and terrify. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 41 

The noise of drum and fife is heard everywhere and troopers are mustering and 
drilling in every neighborhood. 

The news of the battle of Lexington in the Massachusetts Colony which the 
courier brought down a while ago, has made woeful excitement in all these parts. 
Many of our people have gone to Annapolis and Alexandria where recruiting offices 
have been opened and drill masters are constantly drilling the raw militia for the army 
at Boston. I do not know what the end of it will be, but older and wiser heads than 
mine for-see a long and bloody conflict between the colonies and the mother country. 
Many of our friends are already on their way to Boston, where blood has been shed. 
Uncle Rob went as a captain and cousin Jim as lieutenant. Uncle Rob, you know 
was always fond of adventure. He was a soldier in the Braddock war, and fought the 
French and Indians under Col. Washington who is now general commander in chief 
of the Provincial armies. The general was always one of his heroes and he is ready 
to follow his lead again. 

If you could come back here you would find everything so changed from the time 
you left us three years ago. The neighborhoods are quite deserted, so many young 
men have left at the call for troops, and some have been going back to the mother 
country by every ship, and more are preparing to go before the tenth of September 
when the nonimportation act goes into effect. 

But I must not fill my letter with accounts of all these things. So, I wall tell you 
something about your friends in Broad Creek and other neighborhoods as well as in 
this, where you visited. Your Aunt Barbara Lyell long a sufferer was laid to rest a 
fortnight ago. 

I saw your friends Ruth Addison and Mary Emmet at church lasi Sabbath. I 
heard from your acquaintances the Hutchinsons and Hattonsafew days ago, they 
were all well. Betty Low and Susie Lloyd go out on the Margaret. 

Our congregation at the Broad Creek church is now very small, oftimes no 
minister is at the service, only lay readers. There have been several weddings, not- 
withstanding the great commotion. But parties and balls have had their day I guess 
for a long time to come. 

I assure you I would rather be in the quiet and peace of dear old Glasgow just now, 
but my line of duty is here, and I must remain and pray for better days. 

I cannot say now when I shall write again, they say no ships will be sailing, but when I 
can, I will send you tidings. Excuse my rambling epistle, and believe me as ever, 
your loving cousin, 

Susie Noble." 

early maryland history. chapter ix. 

THE REGION AROUND PISCATAWAY-ITS 
HISTORIC ASSOCIATIONS. 

At the angle formed by the junction of the Potomac and the Piscataway rivers rises 
the eminence on which stand the frowning battlements of Fort Washington. 
Looking northward from the tops of these battlements the eye ranges over a scope 
of country which for lines of picturesque and quiet scenery, has few if any rivals in any 
other region of all our beautifully diversified land. Looking northward, the broad 
river seems a veritable lake, with its expanse of peaceful waters shut in by the slight 
easterly deflection of its course at Alexandria, and by its prominent borders of gently 
sloping woodland, and cultivated fields. Beyond this expanse, rise the stately spires 
and domes and lofty obelisk of the National Capital and still further beyond in the 
hazy distance may be discerned the faint outlines of the Blue Ridge. Looking south- 
ward from the battlements, there are pleasant, never tiring landscapes of sloping 



42 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

fields and wooded crests and the widening river stretching far away in its seaward 
course till lost from sight, by another deflection to the west. 

Not more remarkable is this scope of country for its configuration of natural beauties, 
than for the many important and interesting historical associations which belong to it. 
Of these associations the earliest relate to the Potomac, when Captain John Smith that 
famous adventurer, soldier and explorer ascended its waters to find what manner of 
lands they jilowed through and what manner of people inhabited them, this was in 
the spring of 1608, one year after the planting of the English colony at Jamestown. 

"With the intent of searching out every inlet and bay fit for habitations and 
harbors" he fitted out at Jamestown an open barge of about three tons burthen and 
left the mother settlement in June, accompanied by "^Valter Russel, doctor of physics, 
and six other gentlemen, Ralph Morton, 'I'homas Momford, William Cantrill, Richard 
Featherston, James Burne, and Michael Sicklemore, and seven soldiers, Jonas Profit, 
Anas Todkill, Robert Small, James Watkins, John Powell, James Redd and Richard 
Keale, who were to work the barge and act on the defensive in case of encounter with 
the natives. 

Their boat was open, fitted with sails and conveniences for rowing. Many marvel- 
ous and exciting incidents attended their expedition which are set forth in the valu- 
able Journal of the Captain published in London, 1620, and still extant in the 
congressional library. They found the waters abundantly stocked with fish, so 
abundantly that they could be readily taken with bucket or basket, or speared from 
the boat's side. Wild fowl, geese, swans and ducks flocked everywhere and the woods 
were alive with deer and other wild animals, and all could be secured for subsistence 
with little effort. 

The natives came down to gaze upon the strange sight of the pale faces cleaving 
their way with winged boat through their great waters. Once, they appeared in great 
numbers and discharged their arrows at them from the concealing thickets of the 
shore, but a volley of resounding musketry from the soldiers put them to sudden 
flight. Generally tlie red men were friendly, and offered the adventurers freely of 
their stores of maize, meats and fruit. 

The summer heats had set in and violent thunder storms assailed the party, drench- 
ing their clothing and spoiling their supplies of biscuit, and some of the men were 
prostrate with sickness and clamored to return. 

Captain Smith was not the leader to be thwarted in his undertaking. He had com- 
menced it not for mere pastime nor out of idle curiosity, and not until his barge had 
grounded on the rocks above the wilderness site where now stands the National 
Capital of our republic, did he submit to retrace his course. 

The map which Captain Smith hurriedly made as he sailed, appears to day with his 
journal and bears evidence to his skill and accuracy as a delineator. The course ot 
the great stream, the direction of its numerous affluents, were quite correctly traced 
and along with his configuration of the shores, he noted the location of all th eprincipal 
aboriginal settlements. 

During the twoity ycMrs next succeeding the year of this exploration, the pages of 
the early chroniclers bear witness to numerous tragic occurences connected with this 
region. In years when the supplies of maize fell short among the settlers about 
Jamestown, it was customary for them to fit out expeditions ostensibly for the purpose 
of trading with the Piscataway and other neighboring tribes who had always stores of 
the needed grains, but really to invade by force their settlements and take from them 
the object of their quest. But later, in one of these forays in the neighborhood of 
Belvoir, just below Mount Vernon on the Virginia side, retribution followed in the 
massacre of nearly every man of the foraging party. This was in 1621 and the cir- 
cumstances were as follows : Captain Henry Spillman, a gentleman who had been 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 43 

living in the Virginia country thirteen or fourteen years, at one time a prisoner 
among the natives and one of the best interpreters of the Indian dialects, having been 
furnished with a bark called the Tiger and twenty-six men vvell armed, was sent from 
Jamestown to trade with the natives. He had lived a long time among the savages, 
and whether he presumed too much upon his acquaintance with them, or whether 
they sought to be revenged for the slaughter among them by the English in 
years before, or whether he sought to betray them or they him, was never 
known. Spillman and twenty-one of his men went on shore, leaving the bark and five 
men in tlie stream. While they were ashore the vessel A^as surrounded by Indians in 
canoes. Tliey clambered on to the bark and would have taken possession, but for 
the presence of mind of a sailor who fired a small cannon, which so frightened the 
natives that they jumped into the river and swam ashore. 

Soon after, a great clamor was heard on the land and presently a man's head was 
thrown down the bank, and the five men hurriedly weighed anchor and returned to 
Jamestown. Thus perished Captain Spillman. In this massacre Henry Fleet, for' 
some unknovvn reason, was spared and afterwards ransomci by the colonists. 

In 1623, Governor Wyatt, of Virginia, went in person up the Potomac and took full 
revenge upon the Fiscataways and other tribes who had slain Captain Spillman, 
"putting many to the sword and burning their wigwams together with a prodigious 
quantity of corn which they had hidden in the woods." 

In 1634, forty-eight years before the landing of William Penn on the shores of the 
Delaware, came Leonard Calvert, brother of Cecil Calvert, with about two hundred of 
his followers, the most of them Roman Catholic gentlemen and their servants, looking 
for a favorable situation for the founding of a colony, for which he held a royal 
charter from the first Charles of England to his father George, first Lord Baltimore, in 
1632, confirming to him and his heirs as "absolute Lords and proprietaries, the ter- 
ritory of Maryland, to be held by them under tenure of fealty, only, paying to the 
crown a yearly rent of two Indian arrows and a fifth of all gold and silver which 
might be found." 

They dropped anchor at . Piscataway, nearly opposite Mount Vernon, and 
held parley with the chief of the Piscataway tribe who came to the shore 
with five hundred of his people, not in hostile attitude, but in wonderment at 
the appearance of the pale faced strangers. Calvert, through Henry Fleet, 
his interpreter, queried with the chief if he would be willing for himself and com- 
panions to settle down upon his lands and live with them always as brothers, but to 
this he would give neither refusal nor consent, telling him only, that he could do as 
seemed best to him ; Calvert was much pleased with the favorable situation of the 
locality, with its woods and shores and waters ; and he would have been well satisfied 
to begin there his prospective settlement, but he was in a wilderness country a 
hundred miles from the Bay, and he knew not the number and the character of the 
savages by whom he was surrounded. So, weighing anchor, he set sail again and 
dropped down to St. George's Bay, where the Indians welcomed the little band to 
their homes and land^, and divided with them their stores of provisions. But he 
planted the cross, the symbol of his religion, and afterwards, sent Father Andrew 
White to establish a Catholic Mission, some relations of which, have already been 
given in another chapter. 

In 1675 occured what is known in early colonial history as "Bacon's rebellion," 
which was the culmination of along series of feuds and retaliations, disastrous to 
both races and particularly to the Indians, who lost forever the ancient hunting grounds 
of their ancestors. Of the troubles of this rebellion, Piscataway and its surroundings 
had full share. Various Algonquin tribes sought refuge here, and surrounded them- 
selves with strong defences of intrenchments, ditches and jjalisadcs, and for six weeks 
held out against the Virginia and Maryland troops, infantry and cavalry, under the 



44 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

command of Colonel John Washington, the first immigrant of that name and grand- 
father of the President. Only a few of the Indians escaped either starvation or 
massacre. 

In another chapter we have related how the pioneers came and took possession of 
all this region and with axe and brand and plow share, opened their plantations, and 
set their homesteads and altars, and helped to build up the Maryland commonwealth ; 
and how the bosom of the Piscataway was whitened for long years before the Ameri- 
can Revolution by the sails of a busy foreign commerce, carrying away the products 
of the cultivated acres. 

The ships have passed from the peaceful waters, and are only a saddening memory 
now. The pioneers who felled the forests and erected the first homes and altars, have 
been dust under the vines and brambles of the old kirk yard for many a long year, 
but the broad acres remain, stretching over valley and hill ranges and along pleasant 
water courses, not so fertile as once on a time, but still kindly, and destined we think, 
at some time not far off, to again, under new conditions, find restoration to their ancient 
value and productiveness. 

THEOLD KING'S HIGHWAY. 

In passing along with our chain of events, we must not forget the "Old King's 
Highway" of the Northern Neck of our State; for it was truly an historic landmark. 
No road in all our broad empire was more intimately connected with more of the 
colonial circumstances which led to the long and heroic struggle of the Revolution 
and the consequent federation of the thirteen British American provinces under a 
republican form of government. Hitherto, no chronicler has turned aside to write its 
history and call up its varied associations through the vanished generations, to note 
the varied tide of travel which has surged over its way in the alternating times of 
peace and war. Its history and associations are not yet remote enough to take hold 
on our imaginations and enshrine themselves in our memories and affections, but as 
the years roll away, they will become fond themes for not only the chronicler, but 
they will enliven the pages of romance, and our troubadours will sing of them in 
their songs. 

Long years, mayhap centuries and centuries before the prow of the adventurous 
Captain John Smith had touched the site of our National Capital, before the echo of 
an axe had been heard in the Potomac wilderness, or any plow share had upturned 
the virgin furrows, this road was but a trail or path between the lowlands and tide- 
water shores of the Chesapeake and the valley beyond the Blue Ridge mountains, 
along which only the roving sons of the forest threaded their wild journeys. It lay 
through a region of country which nature had bountifully supplied with all the needed 
requirements of a nomadic life. Deer, elk and bears, and other wild animals of the 
forest, furnished meats — 'every stream was stocked abundantly with fish — there were 
plums, grapes, berries and nuts every where, growing without human care or thought, 
and here and there along the trail, particularly at the crossings of the streams, were 
doubtless maize clearings and wigwams, the stations in their journeys where they 
camped and halted for rest ; for they never hurried, as time was no consideration with 
them. Home to them was wherever they lingered and kind nature provided lavishly 
for all their wants. Those were halcyon days for the Virginia red men, halcyon days 
of roving, hunting and fishing. No stranger had yet set foot upon their shores to 
dispute their titles and despoil them of their possessions, but over the "great waters" 
in the "white winged boats" they were coming. The doom of the forest lords was 
sealed. Their heritages were to pass forever from them. 

In the spring of 1607 the little fleet sent out from England by the London company 
under command of Capt. Newport and consisting of three ships — if such small 
and frail vessels might be dignified by the name, for the largest of them did not ex- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 45 

ceed one hundred tons burden —entered the Powhatan or James river, and sailing 
fifty miles up the stream, came to anchor on its eastern shore where their voyagers of 
one hundred and five men began the settlement of Jamestown. 

The English colonists were adventurers who indulged in the most extravagant hopes 
of speedy enrichment in the new found realm. In the wilderness of woods, spreading 
interminably ; in the great water expanses ; in the wonderful fertility of the soil ; and 
in the imaginary mines of the precious metals, they saw resources which were to be 
for them the springs of wealth untold. They had come to subjugate and rule. They 
turned their steps northward toward the sources of the rivers. They followed the 
ancient trail of the Indian, and on their right hand and left, with axe and plow thev 
felled the forests and made them homes and settlements, a great chain of empire from 
the tide waters to the great barriers of the Blue Ridge mountains. The red men 
receded before the advancing wave of civilization to return no more as possessors. 
The path was widened by the axeman, the rough places were made smooth, the 
crooked ways were made straight. The streams, then of far greater volume than now, 
were bridged or ferried. The tobacco planters made it a great rolling road, and it 
became a "way and a highway for the nations." 

The seat of the colonial government was continued at Jamestown until 1698, when 
after successive and discouraging calamities of fire and epidemic it was removed to 
James City county, seven miles inland, then known as the Middle Plantation, and 
one of the eight original counties into which Virginia was divided in 1634; the other 
seven being York, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Isle of Wight, Warwick 
and Northampton. 

The new seat was "3. ridge at the head of two great creeks, one flowing into the 
James and the other into York river, each navigable for sloops within a mile of the 
town ; at the head of which creeks were good landings and two noble rivers not above 
four miles from either." By this seat passed up from the waters of the bay just below, 
the great Indian trail before mentioned, but now called a public highway. From 
Williamsburg it continued to New Kent Courthouse in New Kent county. Thence 
it continued to Bowling Green in Caroline county, thence to Fredericksburg in 
Spottsylvania county, thence to Stafford Courthouse in the county of Stafford, thence 
to Dumfries in the county of Prince William, thence across the Occoquan river 
to Colchester in the county of Fairfax, and thence on, by way of Washington's mill 
of Mount Vernon, at the fording of Epsewasson creek, and by Gum Spring at the 
fording of Little Hunting Creek, and on over the fording of Great Hunting Creek 
to Alexandria. 

From Alexandria there were two separate trails, varying from i to 12 miles apart 
in their courses to the mountains. One of them, the most easterly and nearest the 
Potomac, now known as the Middleburg turnpike, continued still through Fairfax 
county by Falls Church and Dranesville, and through Loudoun county by Lees- 
burg and Clark's Gap in the Catocton mountains, and by Hillsboro to Key's or 
Vestal's Gap in the Blue Ridge mountains, a total of seventy-four miles from Alex- 
andria, and from the waters of Chesapeake Bay to the mountains, two hundred and 
thirty miles. 

It was over this branch that General, Sir Peter Halket's Forty-fourth regiment of 
British regulars, together with several companies of provincial troops, a part of Gen. 
Edward Braddock's army, marched, in April, 1755, on their expedition against the 
French and Indians, which ended so disastrously to the English troops and so fatally 
to both Braddock and Halket themselves. The diary of the march is as follows: 

"Ap. II. To ye old court house 18 miles. To Mr. Coleman's on Sugarland run 
12 miles. To Mr. Miner's 15 miles. To Mr. Thompson's (Quaker) 12 miles. To 
Mr. Key's ferry of the Shenandoah 17 miles." 



46 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

The road, from the circumstance of this march, has ever since been remembered as 
Braddock's road. 

The other branch of the highway, and of about the same extent, generally known as 
the Little River turnpike, passed from Alexandria through Fairfax county about two 
miles west of the present court house and on through Loudoun county, by Aldie, in 
the Bull Run hills, to Snicker's Gap, in the Blue Ridge mountains, and thence over 
the Shenandoah and across the valley beyond. This branch, or a considerable extent 
of it, is also remembered as Braddock's road, from the circumstance of a part of his 
wagon train with stores and ammunition having passed over it. It was over this road 
that the young surveyors, George Washington and George William Fairfax, journeyed 
in the spring of 1747 on their expedition to the Shenandoah valley to survey the lands 
of Lord Thomas Fairfax. In October of 1753, Washington, at the age of 21, with a 
colonel's commission, again traversed it as a messenger dispatched by Gov. Dinwiddie 
to the French commandant of a fort on a branch of French creek, 15 miles below 
Lake Erie, to remonstrate against the encroachments of the French upon the Virginia 
frontiers. The fort was distant six hundred miles by a way over rugged mountains 
and through a howling wilderness, with many intervening streams and other forbidding 
impediments, and for the most part of the distance no roads but the narrow paths of 
the red men. His companions were Lieutenant Jacob Van Bram, soldier and swords- 
man ; Christopher Gist, a noted pioneer and Indian trader, and several guides. 

Again he passed over it in 1754 the year previous to the memorable Braddock war, 
on the expedition which resulted so unfavorably at Fort Necessity or Great Meadows, 
as appears from the following extract from his diary : 

Alexandria, April 2, 1754. 
"Everything being ready, we began our march according to our orders, with two 
companies of foot, commanded by Capt. Peter Hog and Lieut. Jacob Van Bram, five 
subalterns, two sergeants, six corporals, one drummer, one surgeon, a Swedish gentle- 
man — two wagons guarded by one lieutenant, a sergeant, a corporal and twenty-five 
soldiers. We left Alexandria Tuesday morning and pitched our tents four miles 
beyond Cameron, having marched six miles. On the twentieth had got to Col. 
Cresaps." This was near the junction of the north and south branches of the 
Potomac river. 

As the wave of civilization advanced upward from the tide waters toward the 
mountains and the territory now embraced within the boundaries of Prince William, 
Fairfax and Loudoun, was brought under cultivation and dotted over with farm 
houses and hamlets, the immense products of the fertile lands found their way over 
this highway and its branches to the shipping ports of Alexandria and Colchester. 
Most of the tobacco was rolled down in hogsheads, independent of wagon transpor- 
tation. Wagons then were few in number and the most of theni were employed in 
the carrying of supplies to settlers beyond the mountains. By an act of assembly 
passed in 1772 levies were authorized upon the titheables of Fairlax, Loudoun, Berkley 
and Frederick ior keeping this highway and its branches in repair, and in 1785, com- 
panies were empowered to turnpike them and erect gates for the collecting of tolls 
from travelers. The valley lands beyond the Blue Ridge had been settled by a colony 
of hardy and industrious Germans and the most of them were devoted to the growing 
of corn and wheat. Flouring mills were erected on all the available streams and 
henceforth for many years their valuable products were to bring to the Common- 
wealth a tide of employment and prosperity unequalled in her history. The advent 
of the railway, with its flying trains to annihilate space and move with celerity the 
burdens of caravans, was yet but a dim dream of the future, and the wagon had its 
days of success and glory. It was an era of thrift, not only for the farmer and the 
miller, but the wagon maker and every other class of mechanics had full share of its 
blessings. The cross roads stores, taverns and smithies and the wagon stands at 
intervals of three or tour miles all along the way flourished, and nobody croaked about 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 47 

hard times and scarcity of money. There was an equitable interchange of labor 
which made all classes inter-dependent, and gave to all a due proportion of the 
capital employed in the existing industries. There were no millionaires then to 
centralize the people's wealth and absorb the local industries, which were the life 
blood of the rural communities. 

There are persons still living among us who have distinct recollections of the busy 
scenes of those days of wagoning, a generation or more before the beginning of the 
v.'ar. They can tell of the capacious conestogas or land schooners with white canvas 
tops on high bows raking fore and aft which they saw through all seasons of the year 
coming down over the highways into the town, oftentimes twenty or thirty in a train, 
most of them drawn by four and some by six horses, all well freighted with flour, meal, 
beef, pork, hides, butter, eggs, and other country produce, each one carrying from five 
to seven thousand pounds to a load. It was not unusual to see a hundred and sometimes 
several hundred of these quaint vehicles in the different streets of the town, either lo'ad- 
ing or unloading. They carried back salt, plaster, fish, oysters, molasses, sugar, iron, 
hardware, tools, farming implements, furniture and all other articles needed by the 
remote settlements. They were periodic as the days, weeks and months, keeping up 
a constant trade beneficial to all classes and all localities. The stores, hotels, taverns 
and wagon yards prospered; everybody indeed was profitably employed. Ships, barks, 
biigs and schooners busy in the foreign and coasting, trade made at the same time 
a goodly array of masts and sails at the warehouses along the wharves. All the in- 
dications in those days were for rapid, continuous and widely expanding growth for 
Alexandria. No city seemed to be more advantageously situated. A majestic river 
flowed by it with deep and steady water to the sea. Its inland traffic from a vast 
scope of country to the west was increasing, and its continuance for all time seemed 
assured. This was the impression of all travelers who visited the town in that era of 
thrift and progress. The eminent Thomas Twining, one of the energetic Englishmen 
who laid the foundations of the British East India empire among them, has left this 
record of his visit just before 1800. 

"Arrived at Alexandria, we landed at a handsome quay recently built nearly in 
the centre of the water line, and walked up the town to the inn, passing on our way 
through a large, open space, apparently intended for a market place. The town 
being built upon a slope from the interior to the water's edge, appeared to much 
advantage as we rowed toward it from the middle of the river. But the circumstance 
which most struck me, was the vast number of houses which I saw building as we 
passed through the streets and the number of people employed as carpenters and 
masons. The hammer and trowel were at work everywhere — a cheering sight and 
a remarkable contrast with the dilapidation of cities which I had seen in my former 
travels. Although the latter were calculated to afford a deeper interest in some 
respects, the scene of new and active life, the foundations of future prosperity which 
Alexandria presented, made me feel how much more gratifying it is to observe the rise 
of a new State than the decline of an old one." 

O day of pride, O dny of power, When fruitful West sued at thy door 
When vessels anchored lay, And East held out its hands, 

And wharves bedeck'd with princely dower, And thy gray pines on thy green shores 
Loom'd up in strung array! Were gates to many lands. 

The people of Alexandria were early imbued with the spirit of resistance to the 
oppressive measures of great Britain, and no town in all the colonies responded more 
promptly and continuously for troops and resources through the long struggle for 
independence. Here it was, says another English traveler, "that George Washing- 
ton, amid the plaudits of the inhabitants, first stept forth as the public patron of 
sedition and revolt and subscribed fifty pounds towards the commencement of hostil- 
ities." The town was then twenty-five years old, and its population about five 
thousand. Through the years of national strife and general trouble and uncertaint)', 



4S SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

as every where else, the industries of the town were greatly depressed, but prosperity 
returned with the dawn of peace. The wagon trains again came down from the far 
frontiers and commerce again unfurled her sails as in the years agone. 

In 1810 its population was nearly eight thousand. In 1816, two years after its 
capitulation to and plunder by Admiral Cockburn, commander of the British fleet, 
the arrivals at its port were nineteen ships, forty-two brigs, fifty-two schooners from 
foreign places and three hundred and twenty-two coastwise entries. 

Had the conditions of trade and traffic, and the various local economic industries 
which then existed, continued unchanged through the years, Alexandria to-day could 
doubtless show a population double or treble that which it now claims. The con- 
struction of the Potomac canal, and the laying of the three several railroads — the 
Baltimore and Ohio, with its branch from Harper's Ferry to Winchester ; the Mid- 
land, and the Loudoun and Hampshire, ended the old-time wagon industry over the 
mountains and diverted most of the wonted trade to other points. 

Though the former commercial glory of the old town has waned and well nigh dis- 
appeared before the newer conditions of trade and traffic which we have above cited — 
though no square rigged vessels lie nowadays in her ^ocks, discharging their cargoes 
of molasses, sugar and other tropical commodities from Barbadoes, Jamaica, Trinidad, 
Santa Cruz and other islands of the Carribean Sea, as in the years long gone, though 
the rumble of wagons which once crowded her streets has been silenced by the swifter 
transit of the railway train, still, there is a prestige remaining for it which the passing 
of the decades cannot destroy. It will always be one of the places of the Old 
Dominion State to attract pilgrimages from lands afar, on account of its interesting 
historic associations; and doubtless, it will become the pleasant abiding place lor 
large accessions of people, who love the quiet, and whose business or social inclina- 
tions will keep them close to the National Capital. It will not lose its mature and 
leisurely ways. Its old and substantial houses will be preserved with pious care to 
afford to coming generations of patriots, fond glimpses of the vanished past when an 
infant people threw ofif the trammels of kingly power and merged into a life of 
independence. 

THE KNIGHTS OF THECOLDEN HORSESHOE. 

"SIC JURAT TRANSCENDERE MONTES." 

We lift the veil, and Spottiswood, And the solemn haunts of the red men 

At the head of his gallant band, With the saxon voices ring. 

Is spurring toward the mountams ^^^ ^^^^ ^.^^ ^^ ^.^ ^^^^^ 

And the unknown Westernland. ^^^ ^,^^ p^^^j^^^ ^^ j^,^ ,^j^^ 

The gay young Knights of the Horseshoe When the shrill neigh of the coursers 

Ride past in a joyous throcg; Rings on the mountain air — 

And the great wild forest echoes -d • • »u • 

,.,. , p ... Knips in the crimson sunset, 

With the merry shout and song. -^^T- .. t r .. 

•' " Ul the long forgotten years, 

So they stand on the Blue Ridge Mountain, When the glens gave back the laughter 

And drink to the health of the King ; Of the gay young Cavaliers. 

The voyage of Captain John Smith and his fourteen companions up the Potomac 
in the summer of 1608, revealed to them the fact that the low, flat regions which 
everywhere bordered the waters of the Cheasapeake, did not stretch interminably 
inland. A few miles above the Indian town of Tohoga where now stands the city ot 
Washington, their course was arrested by rapids and falls, and all about them were 
high and rocky hills which shut them in like walls. The natives whom they there 
met, told them marvelous stories of a great mountain barrier many miles farther up 
the stream, and beyond that, of still greater mountains whose tops reached to the 
clouds, and still beyond these of a vast region of valleys and plains watered by wide 
rivers and lakes which poured their floods into a far off sea, and that the entire extent 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



49 



of the country from the east to the west, and from the north to the south, was ranged 
by herds of buffalos and elk, and peopled by countless nations and tribes of their 
own race. 

Smith was not prepared to explore the river and lands beyond the falls, and so, 
leisurely descended its waters, devoting most of the summer to examining its shores 
and obtaining information concerning the ntjmber, names and strength of the tribes 
<5f Indians inhabiting them. In the autumn of the year he was again at Jamestown 
where he was welcomed by the colonists, who were more than ever convinced of his 
abilities and of bis great usefulness to them as a counsellor and director in the be- 




•GOVERNOI? SPOTTSWOOT). 

ginnmg of their settlement. He wrote out a description of liis expedition and made 
■3. map jf the wonderful river upon whose waters he had sailed, to accompany it, both 
•of which are still eKtant. He related to the colonists tbe stories he had heard from 
ahe natives concerning the mountains and the vast realms beyond the tide waters, and 
-doubtless, his restless, adventurous spirit would have been the first at an early day to 
plan and lead another expedition to verify them by actual exploration, had he not 
teen compelled by a serious gunpowder accident, to return to England the following 
vear ; for he was a believer of the theory then everywhere prevalent, that a way was 
yet to be discovered througli these new realms, which would afford a shorter, quicker 
and safer way for ships to China and other Asiatic countries. 

The colonists had been particularly instructed by the 'Loi>don company before 
■sailing from England, to explore every _great river flowing from the north or northwest. 



50 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

hopeful that one might be found to empty from some great lake or inland sea whence 
another or others flowed westward and emptied into the Pacific ocean. 

Ralph Lane, the governor of the unfortunate colony planted by Sir Walter Raleigh 
on Roanoke Island a few years before, lured by the stories of the Indians, that the 
Roanoke nver had its source in a vast spring far away to the northwest and so near 
to a salt sea beyond it, that its waves in times of great storms were washed into and 
mingled with the waters of the fountain — with a company of his men, started up the 
stream to explore it. They did not find the great spring nor the salt sea, for hunger 
and other disasters drove them back to the island settlement. The little colony 
Smith had left behind him at Jamestown, consisting of hardly five hundred persons 
was kept busy with the cares and duties of establishing their plantations and home- 
steads and fixing regulations for the common weal, and had no time we may imagine 
for projects of this kind; and strange to relate, more than a century was to pass by 
before the coming of the man and the time for the accomplishment of the delayed 
object. Twenty-four shires or counties had been established. Jamestown was in 
its dotage and no longer the provincial capital, and Smith had been sleeping for 
nearly ninety years in a London church yard. 

Alexander Spottswood was sent over in 1710 with a royal commission from Queen 
Anne to be governor. It was an appointment which brought joy to the people, for 
he was a man of education, practical in his ways and liberal and progressive in 
sentiments, the very opposite of Culpeper, Berkeley, and some others ot his pre- 
decessors, who had deprecated the introduction of the printing press and the general 
diffusion of knowledge as public calamities. His administration began by the intro- 
duction of various measures for political and economic reform. He brought with 
him the right of habeas corpus, a right guaranteed to every royal subject in England 
by Magna Charta, but hitherto denied to Virginians. Governor Spottswood had been 
bred in the army, at the battle of Blenheim he was one ot the aides of the Duke of 
Marlborough, and there received a wound in the breast. In his character were united 
the spirits of chivalry and adventure, and for the exercise of the latter he was to find a 
field in the Virginia solitudes. 

At the close of August of 1716 he organized a company of horsemen to find a pass 
through the Indian's "barrier" to discover what manner of lands and waters were ly- 
ing beyond. The cavalcade, consisting of the "young bloods of the cocked hat gentry' ' 
under his lead, set out from the palace gate at Williamsburg and followed mainly the 
course of the "old king's highway" through the counties of James City, New Kent, 
Hanover, Caroline and Spotlsylvania to Fredericksburg, receiving additions as they went. 
At Fredericksburg they left the "highway" and took a westerly course to Germanna 
on the Rapidan, where the governor had established iron works and had settled about 
them a colony of Germans, who had planted vineyards and were making wine from 
"stocks brought from France, Germany and Italy. The location was near the after- 
ward battlefields of the "Wilderness" and became well known during the civil war. 
Before leaving Germanna and the limits of civilization, the cavalcade was reinforced by 
several more gentlemen, a "squad of rangers" and two Indian guides, when their num- 
ber in all was about fifty persons. 

They had provided for a vt^ritable holiday excursion. Packhorses accompanied 
with tents, an abundance of substantial provisions and "an extraordinary variety of 
liquors, such as Virginia red and white wines, Irish noquebaugh, brandy, shrub, two 
sorts of rum, champagne, Canary, cherry punch, cider, etc. So, while the "knights" 
had taken due care to arrange for bodily subsistence, they had not been unmindful of 
something to exhilirate their spirits and keep up their courage as they rode through the 
unexplored wilderness on their errantry. They marched by short stages, as the way 
betore them was in many places entirely impassable, until opened and cleared by their 
i,xemen. When they camped, right royal were the feasts they had spread for them 
under the branches of the great trees of the forest, by the full, gushing springs and clear 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 51 

rivulets. The season of the year was a pleasant one for the making of such a journey, 
and doubtless the days were serene and all the landscapes bright and glorious with the 
early autumn's tinting. But of this the chronicler has told us nothing. Only these 
brief records he has left us. which, however, afford interesting glimpses of the progress 
of the expedition : 

"August 27th. Got our horses shod at Germanna and our tents ready. 

29th. Ail things having been arranged, we set out from the German settlement on 
our intended journey. At five in the afternoon the governor gave orders to encamp on 
a small stream three miles from the place of starting, whi<h we called Expedition run, 
and here we lay all night. This first encampmtnt was named Beverly camp, in honor 
of the historian of Virgmia, one of the gentlemen of our party. We made great fires, 
supped and drank good punch. 

30th. In the morning about 7 of the clock we were aroused by the trumpet's call. 

At 9 we sent our servants and baggage forward and we remained, because two of the 
governor's horses had strayed. At hall- past 2 we got the horses. At 3 we mounted 
and at half-past 4 we came up with our baggage at a small river three miles on the way, 
which we called Mine run, because there was an appearance of a silver mine by it. At 
evening, three miles farther on we came to another small stream which we called Mountain 
run, where we camped for the night. We found good pasturage for our horses and 
venison in abundance for ourselves, which we roasted before the fire on wooden forks. 

31st. .At 8 o'clock in the morning, we again set out and after proceeding five miles 
came upon the upper part of the Rappahannock river. Shot a deer from my horse on 
the way. Five miles further on we crossed the same river, and two miles further fell in 
with a bear, which we killed. Killed several more deer and at night camped on the 
Rappahannock. From our encampment we could plainly see the Appalachian hills, we 
made large fires, pitched our tents, cut boughs to lie upon, had good liquor, and at ten 
went to sleep. We always kept a sentry at the governor's door. This we called 
Smith's camp. Made this day fourteen miles. 

September ist. At S we mounted our horses and made the first five miles of our way 
through a very pleasant plain, which lies where the Rappahannock river forks. I saw 
there the largest timber, the finest and deepest mould, and the best grass I ever had 
seen. We had some of our baggage put out of order and some of our company dis- 
mounted by hornets stinging the horses. This was some hindrance and did a little 
damage, but afforded a great deal of diversion. We killed three bears this day which 
exercised the horses as well as the men. Saw two foxes and killed several deer. About 
5 o'clock, came to a run of water at the foot of a hill where we pitched our tents. We 
called the encampment Dr. Robinson's camp and the stream Blind Run. We had 
good pasturage for our horses and every one was cook for himself. We made our beds 
with bushes as before. This day we rode thirteen miles. 

September 2nd. At 9 o'clock we were all on horseback and after riding about five 
miles we crossed the Rappahannock river almost at the head. We had a rugged way — 
passed over a great many runs of water, some of which were very deep, and others 
very muddy. Several of our company were dismounted, some were down with their 
horses and some thrown off. We saw a bear running down a tree, but it being Sunday 
we did not try to kill any animal. Encamped at five o'clock by a stream we called 
White Oak river, and named our encampment Camp Taylor. 

September 3d. About eight we were on horseback, and about ten we came to a 
thicket so tightly laced together, that we had a great deal of trouble to get through. 
Our baggage was injured, our clothes torn all to rags, and the saddles and holsters also 
torn. About five of the clock we encamped almost at the head of James River just be- 
low the great mountains. We called this camp Col. Robertson's Camp. We made 
all this day but eight miles. 



52- SOME OLD HISTOKIC LANDMARKS 

September 4th. We had two of our men sick with measels and one of our horses 
poisoned by a rattlesnake. The sides of the mountains were so full of vines and 
brambles, that we were obliged to clear most of the way before us ; crossed one of the 
small mountains on this side of the Appalachians, and from the top had a fine view of 
the plains below. Killed a number of rattlesnakes. Pitched our tents on the James 
river where a man could jump across it. Called this Rattlesnake Camp. Had made 
four miles. 

September 5th. Were mounted at five. Followed the windings of the James ii» 
the tracks of the axemen. Kill two rattlesnakes. About one o'clock we came to the 
source of the river, where it ran from under a great rock no larger than a man's arm. 
Had made four miles and a half. Near to this fountain we found another, which ran 
in an opposite direction down the other side of the mountain. We followed this stream 
until we came to the opposite valley, and continuing on, found a river (Shenandoah) 
where we camped at night. This day made fourteen miles. We saw when we were 
over the mountains, the tracks of elk and buffaloes and their beds. Ate very good 
wild grapes. We called this Spottswood's camp after our governor. 

September 6th. We crossed the river (Shenandoah) which we called Euphrates. It is 
very deep ; the main course of the water is north; it is four-score yards wide in the 
narrowest part. We drank some healths on the other side and returned. The gov- 
ernor had graving irons, but could not grave anything, the rocks were so hard. He 
buried a bottle with a paper enclosed, stating that he took possession of the place 
in the name of King George First of England." 

The course of the knights from Germanna had been westerly and mainly through 
the territory now included within the limits of the counties of Orange and Greene. 
They crossed over Mine and Mountain runs and the Rapi)ahannock at Somrnersville 
ford near Clark's mountain — then, skirting its western bank for some miles they re- 
crossed it near the railroad from Culpeper to Orange Courthouse, thence, kept on 
within a few milesof theRapidan, over the bottoms of Poplar, Blue, Marsh and Big runs, 
and the south branch of the Rapidan and Conway rivers — -then, after a few miles re- 
crossed the Conway and doubled back to Prince's mountain. Thence, they kept on to 
Swift Run Gap, leading through the Blue Ridge. They celebrated the success of their 
expedition by erecting the national flag and arms and lighting immense fires on the 
summit of the mountain. Around these they made merry and jovial over their ample 
store of vvines and other exhilirating potations. From their old flint-lock muskets 
they fired volleys which woke the echoes of the dense wilderness and wild crags sur- 
rounding them. They feasted on steaks of bear and venison, drank loyal toasts to the 
monarch of old England and the rest of the royal family; and doubtless they wiled 
away the weird hours singing the old time songs and rehearsing stories of their varied 
life experiences in the home land so far beyond the seas. Nearly all of them had 
been through circumstances of great peril and danger. Some of them had been soldiers 
fighting under Marlborough at Blenheim, Ramilies,Louvaiiie, and other battles. Some 
had been with Admiral Rooke at the siege of (libraltar. 

The knights did not advance beyond the valley of the Shenandoah. The object of their 
errantry had been accomplished, and they returned to their respective settJements on 
the James, the York and the Rappahannock ; but the rangers who had accompanied 
them, pushed on and explored the country for many miles beyond, and but a very few 
years elapsed, before daring settlers from the tidewaters, were following fast in their 
tracks to take possession of the lands to which they had opened the way. 

This expedition was not one of long and wearisome toil. It was not one of dangers 
and perils. It had no circumstances of chivalry, religion, or superstition to weave a- 
round it a halo of splendor. Only the circumstances of curiosity and discovery, lent it 
prestige. But it was one of the important events in the great plan of destiny, and it 
has furnished a page of romance for Virginia history which will always have a fascination 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 53 

for, and will command the admiration of every student, who delights to trace the be- 
ginnings and the growth of empire, and the opening of the ways of human progress. 

In commemoration of this early expedition. Governor Spottswood afterwards insti- 
tuted the "Trans Montane Order," composed of the fifty knights of the cavalcade. 
Fifty miniature golden horseshoes were made, set with gems and inscribed with the 
legend, "Sic jurat transcendere montes" — thus he swears to cross the mountain. 
Some of these interesting mementoes have been handed down as heirlooms among the 
descendants of the knights. When Spottswood made a treaty with the five nations of 
Indians at Albany in 1722, in which they bound themselves not to pass the Potomac 
nor the Blue Ridge, except as friends, the governor told the natives they must take par- 
ticular notice of their speaker and gave to the great chief one of the shoes which he 
was to wear on his breast, and bade the interpreter to tell him that there was an inscrip- 
tion on it which would help him to pass the mountains, and if any of their people 
should come to Virginia, on missions of peace, they must bring it with them. These 
things are like dreams to us now. With a population which has not only passed the 
barriers of the Blue Ridge, but the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains as well, and reach- 
ed the Golden Gate of California on the far Pacific coast of our great continent, it is 
difficult for us to realize that just 180 years ago the little settlement at Germanna, on 
the Rapidan, was a frontier post, and the great West an unknown world, except to 
the wild Indian whose tribes, once as numerous as the streams and the hills, have 
vanished forever before the resistless advance of the pale faces. 

FIRST DAYSOFMILITARY GLORY IN ALEXANDRIA 1775. 

The treaty of peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which had termmated the 
general war in Europe, had left all undefined and unsettled the boundaries between 
the British and French possessions in North America ; a singular remissness, consid- 
ering that they had long been a subject for dispute and a cause for frequent conflicts in 
the colonies. Immense regions of the wilderness country were still claimed by both 
nations, and each was now eager to forestall the other, by getting possession of 
them and strengthening its claim by the fact of occupancy. 

The most desirable of the disputed regions lay west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
extending from the lakes to the Ohio, and embracing the valley of that river and its 
tributary which was an immense territory, possessing a salubrious climate, fertile soil, 
fine hunting and fishing grounds, and facilities by rivers and lakes for a vast internal 
commerce, The French claimed all this country quite to the mountains, by priority of 
discovery. In 1673 R^K^re Marquette, with a companion, Johett of Quebec, both 
subjectsof the French crown, had passed down the Mississi]")pi in a canoe to the .Arkan- 
sas river, thereby, according to an alleged maxim in the law of nations, establishing the 
right of their sovereign, not merely to the river so discovered and its adjacent lands, 
but to all the country drained by its tributary streams, of which the Ohio was one. A 
claim, the ramifications of which might be spread like the meshes of a web over half 
the continent. To this illimitable claim the English opposed a right derived at second 
handi from a traditionary conquest. A treaty they averred had been made at Lan- 
caster in 1744 between commissioners from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and 
the Irroquois or Six Nations, whereby the latter, for four hundred pounds, relinquished 
all right and title to the land west of the'AUeghanies, even to the Mississippi; which 
land, according to their tradition, had been conquered by their forefathers. 

The French claim of sovereignty over the Mississippi valley by right of discovery 
was persistently denied by the English colonies whose charters gave to them the right 
of occupation westward to the Pacific ocean ; but on both sides of the Alleghanies, there 
was so much unsettled land, that this mountain range formed the natural line of divi- 
sion between the scope of French and English settlements. The traders of the English 
colonies made their way down the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivtib to the waters 
of the Ohio, 



54 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Such were the shadowy foundations of the claims, which the two nations were deter- 
mined to maintain to the utmost, and which ripened into a series of wars, ending in a 
loss to England of a great part of her American possessions and to France of the whole 
of hers. 

During the years between 1747 and 1748 occurred the perilous border hostilities be- 
tween the two nations, in which the youthful Washington took his first lessons in the 
art of warfare and laid the foundation for his subsequent military career. The result 
of these hostilities was an open declaration of war for the final settlement of the pending 
dispute. In October of 1753 ^*^^- Washington had been dispatched by Gov. Dinwiddie 
to assert to the French commandant of the fort near Lake Erie, the validity of the 
English claims, and to remonstrate in the name of the British sovereign, against the 
pretensions and intrusion of the French traders and settlers, beyond the mountains. 
But for the little effect which this remonstrance produced upon the commandant, our 
young Virginia diplomat might have saved himself the dangerous journey of six hun- 
dred miles he was forced to make through an intervening region of rugged mountains, 
unbroken forests and unbndged streams. 

In the spring of 1754 he was again sent by the governor on a similar errand of pro- 
test, but differing from the first, in that he was accompanied by two companies of pro- 
vincial troopers and authorized to make, if necessary, armed resistance to French and 
Indian aggression. The result of this expedition was the capitulation of Fort Necessity, 
at the Great Meadows with a loss to the companies of twelve killed and forty-five 
wounded. 

And now, the little settlement of Belle Haven on the wilderness bank of the Potomac, 
just straggling into the pretensions of a town of a few hundred inhabitants, and hence- 
forth to be known as Alexandria, was destined to soon become the theatre of the be- 
ginnings of momentuous circumstances in the history of the American colonies. 

In the winter of 1755 a fleet was equipped at Gravesend, England, to transport an 
army to Virginia to co-operate with the colonial forces in their efforts to dispossess 
their French neighbors, and establish the right of English domain. From Gravesend, 
the fleet proceeded to the port of Cork, Ireland, to ccMiiplete preparations, and thence, 
December 21st, set sail for Virginia waters. But it was not until the middle of the 
following March that all the vessels had arrived in the Chesapeake. Here disembark- 
ing, the two commanders — the admiral. Viscount Augustus Keppel, Admiral of the 
white, and Major-General Edward Braddock, of the land forces — proceeded to 
Williamsburg, the provincial capital, to report their arrival to the Governor, leaving 
the fleet to slowly ascend the Potomac to their place of destination. 

This visit was a notable one for the time. Never had the provincial Capital witness- 
ed such a sight, as when the British General and the Admiral rode up through its one 
long street with their retinues, guards and liveried servants to the governor's palace. 
All the prominent planters from anear and afar had gathered to welcome the General, 
Admiral, and their officers and Col. John St. Clair the Quartermaster General, gave a 
dinner to them. Col. Washington was present on the occasion, and made by his manly 
deportment a most favorable imi)ression upon the British dignitaries. 

On the i8th of March the trio of dignitaries set out for Alexandria, 120 miles distant, 
by the old King's highway, in the Governor's chariot, attended by a showy retinue 
and a company of royal guards Their way was through New Kent Court House, in 
New Kent county. Bowling Green, in Caroline county, Fredericksburg, in Spottsylvania 
county, Stafford Court House, in Stafford county, Dumfries, in the county of Prince 
William, across the Occoquan river to Colchester, in the county of Fairfax, and thence 
on, by way of Washington's mill of Mt. Vernon, at the fording of Epsewasson Creek, 
and by Gum Spring, at the fording of Little Hunting Creek, and on, over the fording 
of Cameron Run at the Head of Great Hunting creek. As the vice-regal chariot, with 
its lace and star bespangled occupants and showy retinue of outriders and company of 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 55 

guards rolled along over the rough highway, through the corn and tobacco clearings 
and the forests and little post hamlets, the cortege must have been a marvelous sight to 
the inhabitants. But the keeper of the ordinary was glad ot their coming that way, and 
tiie ferryman made haste to set them over the unbridged stream, for they represented 
rovalty itself, and there was no stint of ready crowns and shillings for the serving 
people. 

On the evening of March 26, the vice-regal company passed the fording of Cameron 
Run and dashed into the Belle Haven hamlet. The cortege consisted of General 
Braddock, his aide, secretary and servants; Commodore Keppel, his secretary and ser- 
vants ; and Governor Dinwiddie and servants, and a company of the royal guards. 
They had made the journey leisurely, for the roads at that season of the year were not 
in good condition for travel and there had been many detentions to exchange civilities 
with prominent persons as they passed through the different neighborhoods. Their 
arrival was welcomed by bonfires and the salutes of cannon. They found all excite- 
ment and expectation among the inhabitants, who were living in the midst of alarms 
and forebodings. Events of ominous portent were crowding fast upon the passing 
days. Couriers were coming down in haste from the frontiers with doleful tidings of 
encroachments of the French and Indians, and of how they were strengthening their 
lines ofj fojts and augmenting their forces. From morn till night, were heard every- 
where the notes of busy preparation. The drum and fife made incessant calls for mus- 
tering and drilling, wagons lined the streets, and schooners and sloops lay moored at 
the docks, all bringing from neighboring places supplies and provisions for the sub- 
sistence of the prospective army. The population of the town had been increased 
many times its usual number by transient accessions. Many families had left their 
scattered, outlying homes and moved in for a season, for safety. 

The fleet had not yet arrived, but it had been sighted down the river. On the 3rd 
of April the convoys, the celebrated Centurion, flagship, 80 guns; the Norwich, Capt. 
Barrington, 50 guns ; the Syren, Capt. Proby, 20 guns; passed Light House point and 
dropped anchor abreast of the town, and were soon followed by the troop transports 
Anna, Captain Nevin ; Terrible, Capt. Wright ; Osgood, Capt. Cruikshank ; Concord, 
Capt. Boynton ; Industry, Capt. Miller ; Fishburn, Capt. Tipple ; Halifax, Capt. Terry ; 
Fame, Capt. Judd ; London, Capt. Brown ; Prince Frederic, Capt. Burton ; Isabel and 
Mary, Capt. Hall ; Molly, Capt. Curling ; Severn, Capt. Rawlings, and the ordnance 
store ships Whiting, Capt. Johnson ; Newell, Capt. Montgomery and Melly. 

The Centurion had had an eventful career. In command of her, Commodore Anson 
had sailed in 1744 on his venturous voyage round the earth. In she covered the 

landing of General Wolf at Quebec. 

The transports had brought over two regiments of British regulars, the most of them 
veterans of other wars, the 44th commanded by Col. Sir Peter Haiket and the 48th 
commanded by Col. Thomas Dunbar, mustering 500 men each and supplies and pro- 
visions. The sight of the fleet was a welcome, as well as a strange one to the Alexan- 
drians. It gave them assurance of |)rotection and safety, and they hailed with joy the 
landing of the two regiments, which were at once camped on the adjoining heights 
with the different companies of provincials. General Braddock had had many and 
varied experiences as a militury man during forty -five yeais, and through favoritism 
had been considered a fit person to be placed in command of his "Majestie's forces in 
America." But the sequel proved that he was not ; for he was stubborn, wilful, arrogant 
and presumptuous, and devoid of all the amenities and magnetic influences which win 
the esteem and ready obedience of the rank and file. He began his campaign in Vir- 
ginia by the severest of military discipline. The men of his command he looked upon 
as machines merely, with no rights he was required to respect. The journal of Capt. 
Orme, his aide, still preserved, shows that for trivial offences the ordinary penalties o. 
the soldiers under his command were from one hundred to five hundred lashes on the 
bare back, and for greater offences a thousand or more. Daniel Morgan, a wagoner 



56 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

on the expedition, but afterwards the foremost soldier of the revolutionary struggle and 
the hero of Quebec, Saratoga and Cowpens, for manfully resenting the brutal assault 
by a lieutenant with his sword, was sentenced by a drum head court-martial, with the 
approval of the commander-in-chief, to receive one thousand lashes, and the sentence 
was carried out with the saving of only one lash. 

The 44th was an historic regiment. In 1745 it was with Prince Charlie who in 
Scotland defeated the British under General Cope, when Peter Halket was made a 
prisoner. It was at Washington in }8i4, was the regiment which made the assault on 
the cotton bags of General Jackson at New Orleans in 1S12, and was also in the 
storming of Sevastapol in 1854. 

Braddock had not calculated for the peculiar contingencies and difficulties which 
were to attend his campaign in Virginia. He had thought only of modes and tactics 
suited to an open country and an enemy with like maneuverings to his own. He had 
not estimated the adverse odds and chances of a foe alert and wary as a panther, who 
was to deliver all unseen from behind thickets and tree boles, his unerring fire upon a 
steadily advancing column of red coats. He had boasted to Postmaster General Ben- 
jamin Franklin that he would make brief work ot the sway of the French in the valley 
of the Ohio, and thence go on conquering and to conquer until not one of. their pos- 
sessions remained. The reduction of fort Duquesne was "to detain him not above 
three or four days." In reply to him, Franklin observed with his characteristic practi- 
cal good sense : "To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with your fine 
troops, so well provided with artillery, the post, though completely fortified and assist- 
ed with a very strong garrison, can make but a short resistance. The only danger I 
apprehend of obstruction to your march, is from ambuscades of the Indians, who, by 
constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them ; and the slender line, 
nearly four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be attacked by 
surprise on its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces which from their 
distance cannot come up in time to support one another." Says Franklin : "He smil- 
ed at my ignorance and replied. 'These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to 
raw American militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is im- 
possible they should make an impression.' " 

It was the expectation of the commanders of the regulars to be able to recruit the 
two regiments on landing to their full complement, from Virginia enlistments, but they 
found this impossible on account of the extreme severity of their regulations ; and the 
provincials already organized under the acts of the general assembly, were unwilling to 
leave their company commands. They were anxious and ready to serve in the war, but 
they desired that provincials should be their commissioned officers. They cared not 
for the showy uniforms of the regulars, although their own coarse and ill-fitting suits of 
homespun put them into ridiculous contrast with them, and made them the butts of un- 
pleasant jests and insinuations. 

The spring was now wearing on ; Braddock was impatient to get his troops away 
from the demoralizing influences of the town, and to begin his triumphal march. The 
artillery had all been brought up from Williamsburg and Fredericksburg. The militia 
was equipped, and everything was ready lor the moving of the expedition. 

The objective point of this expedition was the Ohio river more than two hundred 
miles distant, with an almost unbroken wilderness intervening, with swollen streams to 
ford and rugged hills and mountains to toil over. 

Sir John St. Clair had bee appointed military Inspector General in America, and 
came out in the ship Gibraltar and arrived in January. With Governor Sharpe of 
Maryland he had made a tour of observation up the Potomac, about the Great Falls and 
had concluded that it was practicable to secure navigation by flat boats up the stream 
to Cumberland, for the transportation of the baggage, supplies and artillery of the army, 
by blowing up the obstructing rocks with gunpowder, but abandoned his chimerical 
project on consulting with wiser heads. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 57 

On the morning of April nth, six companies of the 44th bade adieu to the ease and 
comforts of their camp life by the Potomac, slung their knapsacks, and took up their 
line of march toward the mountains. Their way was out of King stVeet and over the 
old Indian trail, or King's highway, now known as the Leesburg turnpike. Consoli- 
dated with these regulars of the 44th were the two independent New York companies 
of Capt. Rutherford and Capt. Gates, numbering 50 men each ; Capt. Poison's com- 
pany of carpenters, numbering 50; Capt. Peroyne's Virginia rangers, numbering 50; 
Capt. Wagner's rangers, numbering 50, and Capt. Dagworthy'^ Maryland rangers, 
numbering 50, a total of 800. Capt. Gage with four companies, was left behind to 
escort the artillery, but followed soon after by the same route, and the entire regiment 
reported at Winchester a few days after. Col. Dunbar's regiment, the 48th, did not 
leave camp until April 18th. 

Their route was first to a point opposite to Rock Creek. Here they were ferried 
over the river to the Maryland shore. Thence, they marched to Frederick and on to 
Cumberland, With these regulars were consolidated Capt. Demerie's company of 
South (Carolina troops, 100 men ; Capt. Dobb's North Carolina troops, too men ; Capt. 
Mercer's carpenters, 50 men ; Capt. Steven's Virginia rangers, 50 men ; Capt. Hogg's 
Virginia rangers, 50 men ; and Capt. Cox's Virginia rangers, 50 men. These troops 
conveyed the fixed ammunition, military and hospital stores. 

The scenes in which these troops were soon to take part were to be far different 
from any they had heretofore known. Their marches were to be through unbroken 
forests where they would have to hew their ways with axes. They were to wade swamps 
and streams, and climb hills and mountains, suffer extremities of hunger and finally 
meet the well fed, well equipped Frenchman and his murderous Indian allies. But 
they were now having their heyday of pleasure and what mattered to them the stories of 
coming perils. They had faith in their own prowess, with no forebodings of impend- 
ing calamities. At the Royal George, the Indian Princess and the other hostelries of 
the town they found plenty of old Jamaica, cogniac, ale and cider, to keep up their 
spirits, and the genial spring days and the hospitality of the Virginia people made 
them feel doubtless, that their lines had fallen in pleasant places. 

The transports had brought over two British regiments of regulars. The 44th com- 
manded by Sir Peter Halket and the 48th commanded by Col. Dunbar both 500 strong. 
The 44ih wore a uniform of red faced with yellow, that of the 48th was of red faced 
with buff. The men were armed with muskets, the sergeants carried halberds a kind 
of combined pike and battle axe, and the minor officers spontoons. We can readily 
imagine the strange excitement and wild vague rumors, which must have taken hold of 
the people of the frontier Virginia hamlet, nestled lonely among the great forests which 
bordered the broad deep stream with so many war sails anchored in their port, and fly- 
ing the royal flags, and with so many foreign soldiers quartered in their midst. The 
regulars were chiefly veterans who had served under tlie royal duke, and had turned 
their army against a prince of the blood far more kingly. The muskets destined to 
drop in the Virginia solitudes had seen service in the Low Countries of the continent 
and in the Highlands of Scotland and bore vague associations of Gneldres and Fonte- 
noy, of Pre5ton Pan and Culloden. Safety and power seemed to hover around their 
standards and the town gloried in them. 

On the 14th day of April, 1755, was held in Alexandria the first session of a council 
of provincial governors to consider and provide for the emergencies of the projected 
military campaign. This council is known in our history as the Second American 
Congress, the one at Albany during the year preceding, having been the first. The 
place of meeting was the Carlyle, now the Braddock House. There were present Gov- 
ernor Shirley, of Massachusetts, now next to Braddock in military rank ; Governor De- 
lancey, of New York; Governor Sharpe, of Maryland ; Governor Morris, of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Governor Dobbs, of North Carolina ; and Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia ; 
and General Braddock and Commodore Keppel, also Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster 



58 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

General of the colonies. To this Congress, Braddock presented his commission 
and the following royal instructions from the home Government : 

"Having taken under our royal and serious consideration the representations of 
our subjects in North America, and the present state of our colonies, in order to 
vindicate our just rights and possessions from all encroachments, and to secure the 
commerce of our subjects, we have given direction that two of our regiments of foot 
now in Ireland and commanded by Sir Peter Halket and Col. Dunbar, and likewise a 
suitable train of artillery, transports and store shij)*, together with a certain number of 
our ships of war to convey the same, shall forthwith repair to America. 

"2d, You shall immediately, on receipt of these, our instructions, embark on board 
of one of our ships of war, and you shall proceed to North America where }ou will 
take our said force under your command. And vve having appointed Augustus Keppel, 
esqr., to command the squadron of our ships of war on the American station, we do 
hereby require and enjoin 3'ou to cultivate a good understanding and correspondence 
with the said commander of our squadron during your continuance in the service, with 
which you are now intrusted, we having given directions of the like nature to the said 
commander with regard to his conduct and correspondence to you." Braddock was 
given the chief command in America upon the recommendation of the Duke of Cum- 
berland, the British commander in chief, from whom he received further instructions 
enjoining him among other things to constantly maintain strict discipline among the 
troops, "and to be particularly careful that they be not thrown into a panic by the 
Indians." 

The congress adjourned after a few days of hurried deliberations, but not 
until they had emphatically signified their disapproval of a measure proposed by the 
King through the commanding general, looking to the establishment of a common 
fund by the several colonies, towards defraying the exj^enses of the campaign, v.hich 
was the first significant forerunner of that patriotic protest of the colonies against t.-^x- 
ation without representation twenty years after, and which formed their battle lines at 
Lexington and Bunker Hill and made possible their independence as a nation and a 
republic. This congress was to have been held at Annapolis but circumstances chang- 
ed the place to Alexandria. 

It was resolved by them, that Gen. Braddock with an army of 3,000 men should at- 
tack the French on the Ohio River, that the two regiments of (Jov. Shirley and Sir 
William Pei>erell weie to attack the fort at Niagara, and that Col. John.-lon with 
5,000 men raised to the northward, was to attack Crown Point. Col. Washington was 
appointed aide to the General and so proclaimed in cimp, but he was not ))re?ent 
at the deliberations of the council on account of sickness, which kept him at Mt. Vernon. 
He had orders to join Ins command when able to do so. He did so at Cumberland. 

2,500 horses, 250 wagons and 1,100 beeves had been promised the army by Virginia 
and Maryland but only 20 wagons and 200 horses were furnished. 

On the 20th of April, Braddock having made sure of the exit of every .straggler of his 
motley army, prepared to depart himself. He had purchased of Governor Sharpe a 
chariot and six. In it he look his seat and escorted by his company of Virgina Ij'ght 
Horse and a detachment of foot, he rolled out of the town on his "triumphal march." 
The little drums rattled at his departure and the townsfolk fired a salvo and wished 
him good speed. Doubtless the haughty veteran was in good s|)irits. He certainly 
had no misgivings of the expedition. His thoughts were only of the chastisement of 
the gay Gaul and of the laurels he would win on the distant Ohio. He followed in 
'the tracks of Halket and his men up the King's highway. Little better 
then was this way than a bridle path worn through the great forests, only an old 
Indian trail of the long gone centuries, widened somewhat, and smoothed a 
little for the needs of the pioneers and tobacco planters. Scant room there must 
have b^en for the coach and six, and the outriders of the elegant generalissimo. It was 



OP VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 59 

a wide contrast to the broad and level turnpikes he had wheeled over in old England. 
However, there was a novelty about the journey in which a ronnantic and poetic temper- 
ament might have found compensation. The progress was tedious, but it afforded oppor- 
tunity to evolve military strategies and fight imaginary battles. And the camp chest 
which accompanied had been well supplied by the good friends of Bellehaven, with 
ample store of eatables andspiritous drinks. Well for the general and his suite as they 
rode along gady under the overhanging boughs of the almost interminable forests, that 
they did not foresee the dire calamities, which fate had in store for them, when the 
swelling buds all about them of those April days should burst into the fullness of leaves 
and branches. Not till the 20th of May did Braddock and his suite reach Wills' Creek 
now Cumberland, Maryland, 100 miles from Alexandria. Here they found a strong 
fort just completed by some provincial troops as a part of a system of frontier defences. 
The little garrison in their isolated situation hailed their coming with delight and 
welcomed it by a salute of seventeen guns. In a few days, the regiments of Halket, 
Dunbar and Gates arrived by way of Winchester, through which settlement the com- 
mander also had passed, and a camp was established for rest, instruction and further 
prepartions for continuing the march. Here it was, that Washington first joined the 
command. In this camp the severest military discipline was enforced. By general orders 
the most trivial offences were punished by from one to five hundred lashes, and the 
deserter was to be hanged without mercy, although returning to his post. 

After three weeks of encampment, during which they had fared bountifully from 
supplies which had been sent them from Pennsylvania, the army consisting all told of 
twenty one hundred men, was again on their march to the Ohio, yet one hundred and 
thirty miles beyond. Owing to the extreme difficulties of this march over rugged moun- 
tains and deep ravines, through dense forests, swamps, and swollen streams, the Ohio 
was not reached until the close of the first week of July On the 9th of tha«t month 
occurred the disastrous engagement with the French and their allies. 

For his obstinacy in refusing to listen to advice as to the mode of conducting the 
battle, given to him by old Indian fighters which, later, he vainly regretted, he paid 
the penalty with his life. With him were slain twenty-six out of eighty-six of his offi- 
cers, among them Sir Peter Halket, and 37 were wounded, including Col. Gage and 
other field officers. Of the men, one-half were killed or wounded. Braddock braved every 
danger. His secretary, Shirley, was shot dead and both his English aides were disabled. 
It was a rout. The regulars were panic stricken and fled; even fired upon the provincials 
mistaking them in the smoke for the enemy. 

Braddock had five hoises disabled under him; at last a bullet entered his right side 
and he ftU mortally wounded. He was with difficulty brought off the field and borne 
in the train of the fugitives. All the first day he was silent; but at night he roused him- 
self to say, "Who would have thought it ?" Dunbar was now in command. On the 
i2tii of July he destroyed the remaining artillery and burned the public stores, and 
the heavy baggage to the value of a hundred thousand pounds, pleading in excuse, 
that he had the orders of the dying general and being himself resolved in midsummer, 
to evacuate Fort Cumberland and hurrying to Philadelphia for winter quarters. 
Accordingly the next day they all retreated. At night, Braddock roused again from 
his lethargy to say "We shall know better how to deal with them another time" and 
died. His grave was made near Fort Necessity, and tlie place is still pointed out. 
Thus ended the famous ex|)edition of Braddock against the French and Indians and 
the first days of military glory at Alexandria. 

Since the occurrence of the events we have narrated hardly a century and a half 
has passed. The circumstances seem dim to us now and very far away, for the 
succeeding years have wrought so many changes among the nations. But they are 
not so distant after all, when measured by the allotted duration of a life time. The 
straggling hamlet of Bellehaven, then a frontier post in the midst of alarms, and peril? 



6o SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

from Indian incursions, has grown to be a pretentious town, and the wave of civilization 
has rolled westward two thousand miles beyond it and encompassed with its blessings the 
realms of a continent. It presents now, but few traces of the exciting circumstances 
of those primitive times; here and there an ancient landmark may still be seen to revive 
memories and traditions; a hip-roofed house with quaint gables, an outside chimney, a 
dormer window. The Council Hall where the governors deliberated remains much the 
same and the old military highway still holds its way to the mountains but the conditions 
of the town have changed with the passing of the generations. 

Voyage ofthe Brothers Lawrence and George Washington to 
THE Island of Barbadoesin1751. 

"The breezes cnme, the light wintls blew 
As glad to bear their bark away 
To tropic lands beyond the sea." 

The twenty-eighth day of September, 1751, came bringing to the newly established 
home of Mount Vernon a dark shadow of grief and suspense. Its worthy and honor- 
ed proprietor. Major Lawrence Washington, never so rugged as his younger brother 
George, had contracted a pulmonary trouble in his hard military experiences at the 
siege of Cartagena under the command of Admiral Vernon in 1740 and '42, which 
had steadily increased with the passing nf the year's, and had resisted all his efforts 
for its cure. A voyage to England as well as a year's sojourn at Berkley Springs in Vir- 
ginia, had given hiin no permanent relief, and now, as a last resort he was going to 
try the milder airs and other favorable conditions of the Island of Barbadoes, the most 
easterly of the Caribbean Islands and belonging to Great Britain. 

The schooner "Fredericksburg," bound for that place, had dropped down from 
the town of Alexandria, ten miles above, and was lying at anchor in the Potomac 
opposite'to the mansion ready for his embarkation. Lawrence, on his return from Car- 
tagena, had married, July 1743, Annie, eldest daughter of Hon. William and Sarah 
Fairfax, and four children had been born to them, only one of which, Sarah, survived. 
From this little household, he vvas now to bid a sorrowing adieu for an indefinite inter- 
val of time, and we can readily imagine how affecting must have been the parting, 
considering the many uncertainties of the voyages to and from the island, and of the 
duration of time he might have to be absent from his home. 

The companion of his voyage was to be that brother whom he had always regarded 
with GO much tenderness md filial affection, and who in return had most gratefully recip- 
rocated his solicitude. The (iifference in the ages of the two was fourteen years. Law- 
rence was thirty-three and George nineteen. The time was three years after the 
surveying expedition of the latter and George VVilliam Fairfax over the mountains to 
the Shenandoah Valley. Many neighbors and friends came down that morning to the 
little landing on the river to see the brothers embark. It was an event which cast a 
gloom over many more households than that of Mount Vernon ; for they were both well 
known and esteemed afar and anear, for their sterling traits of character, and their 
usefulness in the direction of public affairs in the province. Lawrence had represented 
the county ol Fairfax in the House of Burgesses, had been a promoter of the manufacture 
of iron and other useful industries; and was then an active and influential member of the 
Ohio Company which had been organized tor the purpose of exploring, settling and 
developing the resources of the wilderness lands of the great Ohio valley. 

Little did the skipper of that West India trading bark which bore these two voyagers 
adown the wide waters of the Potomac on that autumn morning, imagine the value of 
the freight entrusted to his skill and watchful care, amid- the storms and tempest 
and billows ofthe great sea. Little did he dream of the great renown which was, ere 
the passing of many years to come to one of them as soldier, statesman, and grand 
exemplar of his race. 

As was his habit, George kept a diary not only of personal incidents and circumstances 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 6 1 

attending the sail, and their sojourn on the island, but also a log book of the vessel's 
courses and distances and the changes of weather experienced from land to land. 
Unfortunately a number of the pages of these records have been destroyed in the long 
interval of time and the chain of the narrative is broken in many places but enough of 
it remains to make a story replete with curiosity and interest for the present and all 
its succeeding generations. 

We are not told by the future commander-in-chief and first president that he took 
his turn as seaman in the working of the schooner, but it is not improbable that he 
did so, considering his practical turn of mind, and judging that he would naturally 
wish to apply what rudiments of navigation he had previously learned. Doubtless, he 
found enough subjects for thought and inquiry every day in the changing of the winds, 
the appearance of the skies and tlie waters, in the flight of birds and the movements of 
the new varieties of fishes, in the stories ot the sailors, and at night, in the contempla- 
tion of the constellations of the heavens, to agreeably divert his mind and relieve the 
voyage of monotony. 

Nearly five weeks were required to make the schooner's run of two thousand miles 
from the Potomac to Bridgetown, the capital of the island, where they landed on the 
fourth of November. That the voyage was a tempestuous and a perilous one is shown 
by the following entries from Washington's journal beginning when they had got well 
out to sea on the sixth day: 

"Oct. 4th. These twenty-four hours clear weather and little wind, with great sea 
from the northward. 

Oct. 5th. These twenty-four hours had moderate winds from the north with 
smooth sea and clear weather. Made all the sail we could. 

Oct. 6th. Little wind, fair weather and smooth sea. Caught a shark, a pilot-fish 
and a dolphin. Had the two latter for dinner. 

Oct. 7th. Little wind, smooth sea and fair weather. Many fish swimming around 
us ; caught a dolphin and had it for supper. 

Oct. 8th. Wind southwest and fair weather. 

Oct. 9th. Fine, clear weather with moderate gales of wind and smooth sea. 

Oct. 10th. Weather clear, moderate breeze and smooth sea. 

Oct. iith. Light wind. Espied a sail. 

Oct. i2tl-i. Fresh gales of wind with wavering weather. 

Oct. 13th. Variable winds and squalls of rain. 

Oct. 14th. Variable winds with a great swell from the southward. Discovered 
a brigantine standing to the westward. 

Oct. 15th. Fresh and wavering gales with contending sea. 

Oct. i6th. Wavering winds and hard squalls. 

Oct. 17th. Hard gales of wind with heavy seas, which endangered our masts. 
Discovered a sail standing to the northward. 

Oct. i8th. Heavy seas, northeast storm and squalls of rain. 

Oct. rgth. Hard squalls of wind and rain with a fomenting sea jostling in heaps, 
occasioned by the wavering winds which in twenty-four hours veered continually, the 
compass not remaining two hours at any point. The seamen seemed disheartened, 
confessing they had never seen such weather before. It was universally surmised 
there had been a violent hurricane not far distant. A prodigy in the west appeared 
toward the sunsetting about 6 p. m. remarkable for its redness. 

0( tober 2otli. A constant succession of hard winds, squalls of rain and calms, 



62 SOME OLU HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

which were so sudden and riighty we durst not go under any, but reefed sails. A 
sloop that for the two preceding days was in sight of us hung out a signal, but 
whether distressed or not we were uncertain. If distressed we were incapable of 
relieving theui by the contrary winds. 

Oct. 21. This day was not much inferior to the foregoing. We were obliged to lay 
to at 8 a. m. until 6 p. m. 

October 22. Light and wavering winds with a large tumbling sea running many 
ways. All hands busily engaged refitting the rigging which had suffered much in the 
preceding storms. 

October 23. Wind in the east vvith fine and regaling weather. Found our supply 
of bread almost eaten up by weuvil and maggots. 

October 24. Fresh breezes; made a tack to the eastward. 

October 25. Contrary winds, with scjualls of rain. 

October 26. Light and shifting winds with rains succeeding. 

< October 28. Fresh gales of wind. Unbent, mended and set the main topsail. 

November 2. Wavering gales. 

November 3. This morning arose with agreeable and encouraging assurances of a 
certain and steady trade wind which after near five weeks of buffeting and being tossed 
by a fickel and merciless ocean, was gladdening news. 

November 4. Regaling and gentle gales. Hazy weather and rain. Found the 
land plain by appearing at about three leagues distance, when by our reckonings we 
should have been near one hundred and fifty leagues to the windward. We were to 
the leeward about the same distance, and had we been but three or four leagues more 
we should have been out of sight of the island and probably not have discovered our 
error in time to have gained land for three weeks or more " 

So ended the voyage of the two Virginia brothers. In the journal from which 
the foregoing observations were taken was also carefully noted by Washington on 
each day of the voyage, the latitude and longitude, and the courses and distances 
made by the schooner in as methodical a manner as if he had been himself the sailing 
master. And doubtless before anchor was cast in Carlisle bay, he was as conversant 
with nautical terms and knew as much about making and taking in sail and finding 
latitude and longitude as many a sea-faiing man of years of experience. 

On landing at Bridgetown the brothers were kindly entertained in the household of 
Major Clarke, the commandant of the fortifications of Carlisle bay by whom they 
were introduced to the governor and otlier prominent citizens of the town. Every 
where the utmost cordiality and hospitality were extended to them. Dinners, teas, 
parties, theatricals and other enteriammenls were given in their honor, and excuisions 
through the adjacent plantations where they "saw fields of sugar cane, corn and fruit 
trees in a delightful green." 

The great variety of tropical fruits and other rich prc^luctions of the fertile soil 
everywhere to be seen was bewildering to Washington and vvith his characteristic fond- 
ness for everything pertaining to rural life, nothing could have been more agretable to 
his ardent mind. Of the fruits he saw he mentioned the "granadilla," "sajjpadilla," 
"pomegranate," sweet orange, water lemon, forbidden fruit, apples, guavas, &c. In 
his journal he describes the industries of the island, its fortifications, modes of farming, 
productions and the characteristics of the inhabitants. As usual with him, nothing 
of importance in any department of life escajjed his attentive observation. As the 
sojourn of George was to be for some weeks and that of Lawrence for a ranch longer 
time, they secured permanent quarters as told in the following entry: 

"Thursday 8th, came Capt. Croftan with his proposals, which, tho' extravagantly 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 63 

dear, my brother was obliged to give, ^15 per month which is his charge exclusive of 
liquors and washing which we Hnd In the f^vening we removed some of our things 
up and ourselves. The place is very pleasantly situated pretty near to the sea, and 
about one mUe from town. The prospect is extensive by land and pleasant by sea, as 
we command the view of Carlisle bay and all the shipping in such manner that none 
can go out or in without being open to our view." 

Lawrence at once sought medical advice concerning his malady on his arrival, and 
while he did not receive great benefit he had determined to give the climate, the sea 
breezes and other recommended sanitary conditions of the locality a fair trial, but as the 
time passed bringing no favorable change to him, but only discouragement and de- 
spondency on account of his wide separation from his family, it was agreed between 
the brothers that George should return home, and that Lawrence in a short time 
should try the Island of Bermuda and write from there of his condition; and if any im- 
provement had taken place George was to return with his brother's wife if her friends 
should approve of that course. 

Accordingly as his diary tells us, "On Sunday, December 22nd, he took his leave 
of his brother and new made friends at Bridgetown and embarked on the schooner 
Industry, Capt John Saunders, for Virginia, weighed anchor, and got out of Carlisle 
bay about 12 o'clock. 

After a voyage of five weeks as tempestuous as the one out, he landed at the mouth 
of York River and thence proceeded across the land by way of Williamsburg to his 
brother Austin's at Wakefield, reaching there March 4th, 1752, Resting with his 
brother a day and night, he rode next d.iy to the home of his mother near Fredericks- 
burg. Here he tarried one night, and rode the next day to Mount Vernon to deliver 
the message he had brought from his brother for his wife. Lawrence did not long 
remain on the island. Pleasant as were the tropical airs, kind as were the new made 
friends who strove incessantly to minister for his welfare and enjoyment, he tired of 
all his surroundings. His thoughts, his affections and great ties were elsewhere. 
On the banks of the Potomac two thousand miles away, his devoted wife with her 
frail child, was waiting and longing for his return. He wrote to a friend: "The 
unhappy state of my health makes me uncertain as to my return. If I grow worse I 
shall hurry home to my grave; if better I shall be induced to stay longer here to com- 
plete a cure." All his hopei were deceptive. In (iespair he returned home in time 
to receive the kind ministrations of his anxious wife and friends and died in his own 
house at Mount Vernon, July 26, 1752. 

AN OLD MERCHANT'S LEDGER. 

Before me lies a waif '.vhicli has escaped fire and flood and the many other destruc- 
tive agencies of time, to tell to the living of today its mute but curious and instructive 
story of a generation of people long since dust. It is a merchant's ledger. It was 
brought from Old London town. Its folio leaves are paper made from linen and are 
strong to resist hard wear and usage. They are now yellow but well preserved. The 
pages are filled with accounts of trade and traffic in Colchester on ttie Occoquan river, 
running through the years of 1760 i, 2 and 3 when that long since vanished town was 
a flourishing shipping port and frontier post, and was bidding fair to become a 
populous and enduring place of habitation. 

The entries of the old book are by a clerkly hand. They are not in the least faded, 

and are very legible — just such script as the curious antiquarian delights to follow. 

The orthography is sometimes a little quaint but that does not detract from its 
interest and value after so long a la[)se of time. 

When the first page of this ledger was written Virginia stretched interminably over 
the Alleghanies toward the Pacific ocean. Williamsburg was its vice regal capital and 
Francis Fauquier its vice regal governor. Only five years before, the French traders 



64 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

and inhabitants had been in undisputed possession of the Ohio valley, but now had 
abandoned it beforeihe steady advance of the Englishman. The county of Fairfax 
had been organized but fifteen years und that of Loudoun but two years. George II 
was on the British throne and William Pitt was prime minister. The States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee were but outlying counties of Virginia in 
her north western territory. Gen. Braddock had been lying in his wilderness grave 
five years. Benjamin Franklin, first postmaster general, was busy arranging the first 
continental mail routes. Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington, leaders of 
the contending armies at Waterloo had not yet seen the light. Colonel George 
Washington twenty-eight years of age, flushed with his first military experiences on 
the Ohio had just brought his bride, the widow Martha Custis, to be mistress of 
Mount Vernon and had yet seven years to tarry before assuming command of the 
continental army of the thirteen original provinces. Alexandria was but little more 
than a straggling village of five or six hundred inhabitants. Georgetown was an 
inconsiderable hamlet and where now rise the domes and spires of the National 




Capital the surveyor with chain and compass was cutting his way through forests still 
frequented by remnants of the old Algonquins. Lord Fairfax was living his recluse 
life in the solitudes of the Shenandoah valley with only hunters, half breeds and packs 
of hounds for his companions, and George William Fairfax was living in his elegant 
mansion of Belvoir on the Potomac. Daniel Boone and his hardy followers had not 
left their native sand hills of North (Carolina to begin their perilous settlements in 
Kentucky. 

Then stately merchant ships came into the deep waters of the Occoquan — some 
from London, some from Glasgow, some from Amsterdam and son»e from the West 
Indies. Now and then a bark careering darkly from the Bight of Bennin or the coast 
of Guinea furled her sails in the Colchester Haven and landed her living freights to 
take up their march in gangs for their allotted places of toil. 

Colchester was a growing and busy frontier town. Its merchants were prospering 
by large trade and traffic and lived like [)rinces. Long lines of sheet topped wagons 
went constantly from its port carrying over the King's Highway their merchandise to 
the advance settlers of the lands along and far beyond the mountains. 

As yet not a steamboat nor steam car had come to change the long exi.'-ting condi- 
tions of travel and to revolutionize every department of industries. 

To turn over the pages of this old book and read the items noted down by a hand 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND O5 

which has been dust for nearly a hundred and fifty years is like taking a long journey 
backward and being a spectator of the events and circumstances of the vanished town 
and its surrounding neighborhoods. 

On the pages of this book are entries against hundreds of the towns-folk of Colchester 
and the surrounding planters; and from the articles of merchandise set down against 
them we learn that they had no lack of the comforts, even luxuries of life. They 
bought broadcloths, silks, brocades, velvets, fine linens, carpets, rugs, mirrors, china 
and silverware and wines and other liquors, notably peach and apple brandies. 
Among the names of patrons are those of George Washington, Lawrence Washington, 
George Mason, George William Fairfax, Dr. Craik, afterwards surgeon general of the 
continental army, Richard Henry Lee, General Weedon, Captain Wagner, Bertrand 
Evvell, Captain Posey, Daniel McCarty, Jonn Ballandine and others prominent in 
colonial history. Parson Scott of Pohick is charged with half a gallon of old Jamaica, 
and Bryan Fairfax, afterwards rector of Christ Church, with a pack of playing cards. 

These old ledgers scattered here and there among the homes of our land are not 
without value in a historic point of view. They throw not a little light on the customs 
and usages of the early days of colonial life. They are helpful to the genealogist in 
his difficult work of tracing the lines of families, and ought to be placed beyond the 
liabilities of destruction. 



Interesting Notes. 

Braddock's Secretary Shirley wrote to Governor Morris, "We have a General most judiciously 
chosen for being disqualified for the service. 

While encamped at Fort Cumberland nearly 6 weeks in May and April, Franklin by great efforts 
obtained of the Pennsylvania Assembly the following provisions for the Army: 50 oxen, loo sheep, 12 hams, 
8 cheeses, 24 flasks oil, 10 loaves sugar, 1 cask raisins, I box spices, i box pickles, 5 kegs vinegar, 
I keg herring, 2 chests lemons, 2 kegs spirits, i barrel potatoes, 3 tubs butter, 8 kegs biscuits. 

For each one of the subalterns a box, made up of 6 pounds loaf sugar, 6 pounds muscavado sugar, i pound 
green tea, i pound Bohea tea, 6 pounds coffee, 6 cheeses, ^ chest white biscuit, }4 pound pepper, i 
Gloucester cheese, i keg butter, 2 doz old Madeira wine, 2 gal. Jamaica sherrets, i bottle mustard, 2 
hams, Yi, doz. dried tongues, 6 pounds rice, 6 pounds raisins. 

Commodore Anson sailed round the world 1740, Keppel with him in the Centurion 60 guns. 

Staff of Braddock's Army. 

Edward Braddock, General Cominandt'r in Chief; Robert Orme, Esquire, Roger Morris, Esquire, 
George West, Esquire, Aides de Camp; William Shirley, Esquire, Brother of Governor Shirley, Secretary. 
Sir John St. Clair, Department Quartermaster General British Army in North Amei-ica; Matthew 
Lewis, General assistant ; Francis Halket, Esquire, Major of the Brigade. 

Officers Virginia Troops. 

Captains Stevens, *Waggener, *Polson, *Peyronie, Stewart. 

Lieutenants ^Hamilton, Woodward, *Wright, Spilt Lorper. Stewart, *Waggener McNeill. 



^Killed 



HISTORY 

OF 
THE LONG VANISHED TOWN OF 

COL.CHESTKR 

ON THE 

OCCOQUAN RIVER. 



I hear the tread of pioneers The echoes of a mighty world 
Of Nations yet to be — Are rounding into form. 

The first low wash of waves 

Where soon shall roll a human sea. Each rude and jostling fragment 

Soon its fitting place shall find — 

The rudiments of empire here The raw material of a state, 
Are plastic yet and warm, • Its muscle and its mind. 

We are prone to grope with patience and perseverance through the darkness which 
shrouds the vistas of remote antiquity, and are content if here and therein our toil- 
some research, some glimmering ray reveals to our delighted vision the mystic un- 
foldings of a new historic fact relating to the beginnings of kingdoms and empires 
long vanished from the earth. We never weary of the stories of the dynasties of 
Assyria, Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome and their crumbled cities. We delight to 
trace the streains of the old world, and become in our infatuation familiar with every 
torrent and every brook. We visit in fancy the borders of the Eurotas, and linger by 
■the side of the golden Hermus. The annals of the early empires with their long 
series of conquests and wars of ambition and revenge allure us more than the stories 
of our courageous colonists who caine not with the sword nor spear, not for conquest 
nor plunder, but to subdue the wilderness ranges, extend the domain of civilization 
and the useful arts, and to proclaim the glad tidings of great joy unto all i)eople. 

We have not cared sufficiently to preserve the scattered fragments of their impor- 
tant and interesting history. Incur forgetfulness and indifference, many a precious 
document has been irretrievably lost — many a valuable tradition has been unheeded 
and suffered to pass without record. Why should not their trials, their labors, their 
life histories and experiences claim our deep and abiding interest and our pious and 
unreniitting care, to gather up and place beyond the possibility of destruction every- 
thing of moment pertaining to them. They have left us no ivy-crowned towers, no 
mouldering castles, nor moated gates to tell of princely power and lordly sway, no 
heraldic renown, no stories of empty pomp and pageant, but heritages of far greater 
value they have given us, which as their descendants it is our duty to cherish, preserve 
and carefully perpetuate. For these considerations we owe them kindly mention, 
and should do them honor by the reverential respect of a grateful remembrance. 
They were of the earth earthy we know, and like all the generations which preceded 
them they were born to evil and if they had their foibles, perhaps we may not greatly 
err in passing them over with lenient consideration, even with forgetfulness. If all 
their customs and usuages do not exactly square with our standards of ethics we must 
remember that the world moves on with its generations of progress and changes. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 67 

They were the brave and adventurous pioneers in the wilderness. They were the 
outposts of civilization on the remote shores of" the new world. They made it possible 
for us and those who shall come after us in the coming time, to enjoy certain inalien- 
able rights, among which are "liberty and the pursuit of happiness." They upturned 
the lands and produced the harvests. They founded the homes and neighborhoods. 
They set the hearthstones and altars. They brought the germs of progress and reforms 
and were the makers and builders of our empire. In our gratitude for what they did, 
let us not forget them. If in the past we have not been as industrious gleaners as we 
might have been of the fields of their exploits and experiences, even now, at this 
advanced period, it is not too late to explore the contents of old boxes and trunks in 
loft and garret, and bring to light their bundles of faded letters, their ledgers 
and their ancient books, wills and title deeds, not too late to interview the living 
witnesses whose memories reach far back on the pathway of forgotten events; not too 
late for reverent hearts and kindly hands to erect over the dust of William Fairfax, of 
Belvoir, the paternal counselor, and the true and trusted friend and adviser of our 
Washington, a fitting memorial to his public services and nobility of character; not 
too late to rescue from fast consuming decay the once stately mansion of Wood Lawn, 
erected by the loving munificence of George Washington for his adopted daughter, 
and neice, Nellie Custis Lewis who passed within its spacious walls twenty years of 
hernoble and and exemplary life; not too late to do merited justice and honor to the 
memory and eminent services of a distinguished Virginia hero, of whom it may be 
said, that for patriotism, soldierly skill and deeds of valor, magnanimity of character, 
and integrity of purpose he was second to no other officer who drew sword in the 
long continental struggle and of whom we shall have occasion to make particular 
mention further on in our sketch; not too late to care for all other burial places and 
homes and heroes around which and whom cluster so many associations of the "dear 
dead past" of our old Virginia commonwealth. It certainly is not too late for us 
to organize historical societies where none have existed before. Every county of 
our State should have one of these useful organizations, auxiliary to the very useful 
parent society at Richmond, with active workers in every township, to collect the 
fragments of historic data here and there variously scattered, and not yet made avail- 
able to the annalists; and as fast as gathered, this information should be published in 
the county newspapers for preservation as well as for items of general interest; and 
in this connection, we should remember in every step of our researches that many 
things which seem trivial to us now, may become very important a century or even a 
decade hence, and we should not allow them to be lost when it lies in our way to 
save them. 

There may be in some of our homes many faded letters telling of hopes and struggles 
in the revolutionary contest that would make their writer's names bright on the 
nation's record, were not the number of those who rendered that our golden age so 
countless. Pious is the task of tracing the services of some reverend ancestor, who 
gave whatever he had to give when his country called, but whose name is not now 
remembered. Those days are fast becoming, to our younger race, almost mythical, 
so that every living word from the actors in them becomes of use in vivifying scenes 
that else would seem dim fables. 

To stimulate to these historic researches into the olden times which we owe to the 
generations of the past, as well as to those of the future, I have prepared as the result 
of long and varied reseaches among all known available sources of reliable informa- 
tion the following: 



6S 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



SKETCH OFTHE VANISHED TOWN OF CO LCH ESTER, ON THE OCCOQUAN, 

which our readers will find to be not merely a neighborhood history but one which 
will embrace in its scope, covering a period or more than a century, notices of events, 
circumstances and personages of much more than local significance. 

"Sunk are their bowers in shapeless ruin all 

And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall, 

No busy steps the grass grown foot-way tread, 
For all the flowery flush of life has fled." 

The early colonists who were lured to the province of Virginia by the stories of ils 
many advantages as a place for European settlement, found no region of its vast and 
varied territory more inviting than that which borders the river Occoquan. Its 
timber of every needed variety for the construction of habitations, boats and all 
other economic appliances of civilized life was abundant and everywhere its lands, 
agreeably diversified by hill and vale, were naturally fertile and easy of tillage: 
perennial springs gushed profusely from every hillside, and the river was deep and 
capacious enough for seagoing vessels. Most prominent of all the attractions was 
that of the transparency of the atmosphere to the new comer from over the seas, and 
after his experiences with, the dense and gloomier airs of his native land. Almost 
every object in the new realm must have been to him a source of wonder and delight. 
Such abundant picturesque and grand scenes as met his eyes must have fully com- 
pensated him for leaving his old English home and making the long and perilous 




OLD FERRY OVER THE OCCOQUAN 



ocean voyage. There was no need to scramble for anything for comfort. The 
woods and the streams and morasses yielded enough for all. As the red man gave 
way to his smarter brother, the pale face, and moved to other hunting grounds far 
away to the west, Virginia becaAie m truth a garden of luxury and abundance to all 
who came with earnest resolves and willing hands to its domains. 

So early as the year 1650 a few pioneers from the low lands of the Potomac and 
James, braving the hardships of the wilderness territory, and risking the hostility of 
the many lurking Indians, who still menaced the peace and lives of the white men, 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 6g 

built here and there on the far frontiers, their isolated cabins and opened the way for 
future comers. On the Maryland side of the Potomac the tide of civilization had 
been steadily advancing with axe and plow from the St. Mary's settlement upward. 
Calvert had commenced there his proprietary government in 1634 and although a 
Roman Catholic, had invited settlers of all creeds to make their homes within his 
pleasant borders. Father White and his sacrificing band of missionaries were ex- 
tending their stations and preaching their faith to the natives who roamed the shores 
of the iNIattawoman and the Piscataway. Many Scotch families, among whom were 
the Edraudsons, the McGreggors (Magruders), BoWies, Addisons and others were 
occupying the fine situations between the Piscataway and the Eastern branch, then 
included in the county of St, Mary's which stretched indefinitely to the valley of the 
Ohio. A few years later they organized an Episcopal congregation and erected at 
the head of Broad creek in St. John's parish, the first building for public worship in 
that service in the province of Maryland. They made large cleariugs of the fertile 
land and established a busy shipping port for their tobacco. The surveyor was busy 
with compass and chain running his lines over the densely wooded region now 
occupied by the cities of Washington, Georgetown and their far reaching suburbs. 

In 168S the exclusive right and title to all of that vast region known as the 
Northern Neck of Virginia, from which have been partitioned and established the 
counties of Northiunberland, Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, King George, 
Prince William, Stafford, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madison, Page, 
Shenandoah, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, JefTeison, Frederick and Clarke 
descended to and was vested in Lady Catharine Culpeper, widow of the colonial 
governor, and Lord Thomas Fairfax, his grandson, who jointly empowered George 
Brent, of Woodstock, Stafford county, and William Fitzhugh, of Eagle's Nest, same 
county, as agents to issue j)atents for all unsettled lands in the said Neck, lying 
between and bounded by the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers and their afifluents. 
The first title to Lord Culpeper had been derived from letters patent granted to him 
by King James in 16S8. 

Most of the territory now included within the bounds of lower Fairfax was soon 
covered by patents issued to Giles Brent, Charles Broadwater, William Fitzhugh, 
Robert Flovvson, George Mason, Daniel McCarty, Rice Hooe, William Fairfax, 
Robert Alexander, Richard Ousley, Nicholas Spencer, Lieut. -Col. John Washington, 
Wm. Greene, William Dudley and others. The number of acres conveyed to Spen- 
cer and Washington, March ist, 1674, by Thomas, Lord Culpeper, was five thousand, 
which were paid for in white immigrants at fifty acres a head. This Washington was 
great-grandfather of the general and one of the prominent actors in the Bacon rebel- 
lion of 1676 as will be noticed further on in our sketch.. He was master of a ship 
for some years trading between England and the province, carrying out tobacco, 
timber, iron and other commodities and bringing in white servants to the planters. 
The patent of Washington and Spencer included all that tract of land lying on 
the Potomac and between the two screams known as Little Hunting Creek and Dogue 
or Epsevvasson creek, the 2,500 acres lying along the first named creek falling by 
division to Washington and the 2,500 acres lying along the last named creek falling 
to Spencer which were subsequently purchased by the heirs of Washington. Brent's 
patent included all that part of the Mount Vernon estate, tvi^o thousand acres in ex- 
tent Iving north of T^ittle Hunting creek and along the Potomac and known for 
many years first as Piscataway then Clifton's Neck and later as the River Farm of 
Mount Vernon, through which runs the Washington and Mount Vernon Electric 
Railway for four miles of its course. This patent was granted in 1654. In 1669 a 
patent was granted by William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, to Robert Howscn. 
This included a scope of 6000 acres of land fronting on the Potomac river and extend- 
ing from Great Hunting creek to Pomit's Run near the Little Falls above the present 
cite of Georgetown. A tobacco rolling warehouse was some years after, established 
on the site of the present town of Alexandria, then called Belle Haven. The name of 



-^ 



70 SOME OLD HISTOKIC LANDMARKS 

these warehouses was suggested doubtless by the method of transporting the hogsheads 
of tobacco, which was the fixing of shafts to the outer ends of an axle passed length- 
wise through the hogshead. The rolling roads were but little wider than the casks, 
and the horses or oxen were harnessed tandem. 

Howson did not hold his patent long but disposed of it to John Alexander, of the 
county of Stafford, who soon partitioned it to others. On this land settlements liad 
been made by squatters to some extent by the beginning of 1700, and in 1738 a 
public warehouse for the storing of tobacco was already in use at the head of Great 
Hunting creek, not far from the present fording of Cameron run. Then, there was 
deep water at that point and large vessels could come in and take on cargoes. 

In 1748, by an act of the General Assembly, "sixty acres of land, parcel of the 
lands of Philip Alexander, John Alexander and Hugh West, situate, lying and being 
on the south side of Potomac river about the mouth of Great Hunting creek, in the 
county of Fairfax, shall be surveyed and laid out by the surveyor of said county for 
a town, and the Right Honorable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, the Hon. William Fairfax; 
Esqrs. George William Fairfax, Richard Osborne,- Lawrence Washington, William 
Ramsay, John Carlyle, John Pagan, Gerard Alexander, Hugh West and Philip 
Alexander were appointed directors and trustees for designing, building, carrying on 
and maintaining said town and laying ofif its streets and market place. And thus, 
the Hunting creek settlement became an incorporated borough and a port of entry, 
with the privilege of holding "two general fairs each year for the sale and vending of 
all manner of cattle, vituals, provisions, goods, wares and merchandise whatever." 

To go back in our story, the years of 1675 ^^^ 'l^> were fraught with dire calami- 
ties to the Virginia colonists. Their policy toward the Indians had not been of that 
character to cultivate amity and good feeling and grievously, as the sequel proved, they 
were to suffer for it. The Indians before the coming of the English had selected for 
their settlements the places most advantageous to them with regard to fishing, hunt- 
ing and maize cultivation, and these the colonists coveted and encroached upon. 
The Indians before superior force retreated reluctantly mile by mile into the fastness- 
es of the wilderness and for many years, in retaliation kept up harrassing depreda- 
tions upon the advancing settlements, .until the laborers on the plantations, the 
families in their homes and the wayfarers on the highways were in continual fear of 
being cut off by the lurking foemen who were from time to time succored by new 
accessions of other tribes from the head waters of the rivers and who had been driven 
southward before more powerful tribes with whom they had long been at war. 

At length, the troubl'es between the two races culminated in what is known in 
history as Bacon's Rebellion, which occurred during the administration of Governor 
Berkeley. The outlines of the story of this conflict which are all we can now give are 
these: One Sunday morning in 1675 ^^ some settlers south of Great Hunting creek in 
the parish of Truro, then included in the county of Stafford but now in the county of 
Fairfax, were repairing to the church, presumably the original, of that at Pohick, they 
found the bodies of Robert Hen, a herdsman and his companion a friendly Indian, 
mortally wounded by the door of their isolated cabin in the forest. They had been 
hacked by knives and tomahawks and left for dead. Hen had just sufficient breath to 
utter the name "Doegs" — meaning that the murderous work had been done by some 
of that tribe, the tribe which roamed the territory now occupied by the counties of 
Fairfax and Prince William and whose chief town of Assaomeck was on the Potomac 
four miles below Alexandria. A boy who had been concealed in the cabin came out 
and related how the Indians had come at the break of day and committed the murders. 
News of the occurrence soon spread through the various settlements, and Col. Geo. 
Mason, commanding the infantry rangers and Capt. Giles Brent commanding the 
cavalry, a kind of standing army which had been raised and equipped and kept in 
readiness for such emergencies by the county of Stafford, crossed the Occoquan by 
the ferry and started in pursuit of the Doegs, whom they drove twenty miles up the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 71 

river and came upon them at dawn surprising them in their cabins and slaying many 
of their number among whom was their king. Doubtless the scene of their massacre 
was the settlement at Assaomeck already mentioned. Such of the Indians as escaped 
crossed the river and sought the protection of the Piscataways in Maryland. Other 
Indians fleeing before the pursuit of the colonists further down the river had also 
taken refuge under the same protection, and all were combined by league, and to- 
gether they proceeded to fortify themselves against the whites somewhere on the 
heights now occupied by ihe defenses of Fort Washington. There they "threw up," 
according to the chronicler of the time "high banks of earth around their town with 
flankers having many loopholes, and around this they dug a ditch, and outside of all, 
they built a high palisade of timbers wattled together and thickly interlaced with 
sapplings." Within these defenses they deemed themselves safe and proclaimed 
defiance to colonial forces. To dislodge them from their stronghold, a body of one 
thousand militia, foot and horse, was speedily raised m Virginia and placed under 
the command of Col. John Washington, the first immigrant of that name to 
Virginia and the great gran,dfather of tlie revolutionary leader. This command was 
joined by several hundred more from Maryland, and siege was laid to the fortified 
place of the savages. The conflict was waged with fierceness and malignity. After 
it had continued for some days and many desperate sallies had been made from the fort, 
six chiefs were sent out as messengers to treat for reconcilliation. These were shot 
down and the siegers continued their work until the end of six weeks, when the 
Indians in desperation, to avoid starvation, rushed in a body from their defenses only 
to fall victims many of them, to the fury of their foemen who gave them no quarter. 
The massacre of the natives was almost complete. Vengeance was satisfied and the 
power of the natives forever broken. 

This war was not vvaged with the concurrence of the governor and his council; but 
it was at the instance of the planters who assumed the responsibility of the movements 
and chose for their leader the intrepid Nathaniel Bacon one of the many actors in the 
events of the world's history who have had to wait through the lapse of time for a 
proper appreciation and recognition of their services in the cause of governmental 
reforms. Berkeley was a royalist and believed that all government should emanate 
from the king and not from the people. Free schools and the printing press were 
abominations in his sight, for they enlightened the masses and made possible popular 
rule. 

At a session of the General Assembly in 1679, it was ordered "that for the further 
security of the frontier parts of Virginia from the incursions, of the Indians, a fort 
be built near Occoquan river, strong and well covered, sixty foot long and twenty-two 
foot broad, and one small house of tenne foot square to be strongly built for amunition, 
both which to be built and paid for at the public charge," and that Major Isaac 
Allerton and Colonel George Mason take upon them to provide the several! 
necessarys hereafter mentioned for the said workc and houses, for which they shall be 
reimbursed by the publique, in the county of Stafford, that is to say — eight thousand 
eight penny nails, five thousand ten penny nails — foure iron pots of about eight gallons 
each with pot hookes — four iron pestles — two haire sifters — twelve milke trayes — six 
spades — two crosscut saws — six wedges — two broadaxes — six hilling hoes — two drawing 
knives — two hand t>aws — one grind stone — two hammers — six gimlets — two augurs — 
one adze — two frying pans — ten bushels of salt and foure wash tubs. 

This fort was to be garrisoned by able and sufficient mounted men, "eache a case of good 
pistolls — Carbine or shot gun and a sword, together with two pounds of leaden bullets or 
high swan shot and also that the garrison be provided with five bushels of shelled 
Indian corn and two bushels of meal — eighty pounds of goode, well salted porke, or 
one hundred pounds of well salted beefe for foure months, for such men and horses." 

The garrison was to be supplied with "a goode boate and oares to pass over the 
streame, foure horses at a time." 



72 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

The ruins of this fort or "block house" were remembered by old residents of the 
locality living forty years ago, and according to their accounts, it stood on the brow 
of the hill, south of the river, near the old ferry highway. 

Before the year 1735 a large portion of the region between the Occoquan and the 
Potomac had been occupied, cleared of its forests and put under cultivation. A 
regular ferry had been established as early as 1725 "for the convenient 
transportation across the Occoquan of coaches, wagons, and other carriages and 
travelers on foot at the following rates of ferriage: For every footman, 3 pence; for 
every head of neat cattle, 3 pence; for every horse, 3 pence; for every coach, chariot 
or chaise with four wheels, or a wagon, 18 pence; for every two wheel chariot or cart, 
10 pence and for a hogshead of tobacco, 3 pence and no more." Under an act of 
the General Assembly protecting the franchises of all ferr)men of the colony at that 
time in force and for 100 years thereafter, "any person convicted of setting a wayfarer 
over a stream near to a ferry" was made liable to pay for every such offence five pounds 
lawful money of the commonwealth. In 1675 ^'^^ county of Stafford had ordered "that 
a boat be kept at this ferry" in continual readiness night and day to carry over the 
mounted rangers in pursuit of prowling savages." Here also was located one of a 
chain of blockhouses occupied by scouts, watchers and overlookers. This was fifty 
years before the regular King's Highway was established from Williamsburg to the 
Blue Ridge. These scouts had a roving commission from the governor with orders "to 
protect the frontiers at all hazards." Each trooper was well and completely armed 
with a case of good' pistols, a carbine or short gun and a cutting sword, together with 
two pounds ot powder and ten pounds of lead bullets or high swan shot and beef and 
hard biscuit. No chronicler has left us the story of the deeds of those rangers, of 
their perilous expeditions, forays and encounters. They remain dead secrets in the 
valleys, among the hills and mountain slopes and along the rivers and creeks. We 
only know that they established security in the solitudes and that the axe and the 
plow and the cabin followed fast in their traces. 

Previous to 1740 many families came into the Occoquan region from Scotland and 
their descendants are now known by the familiar names of McCarty, McGreggor now 
Magruder, Maxwell, Henderson, Campbell, Jaraieson, Adams, Randal, Douglas. 
Carlyle, McPherson, McCrea, Grayson, Lawson, Robinson, Kenedy, Kinchelo, Fergur- 
son. Grant, Powell, Neville, Hooe, Edmundson, Graham, Murray, Thornton, Drum- 
mond and many others. Tobacco was the great and all absorbing staple product of 
the new and fertile plantations along the Occoquan and public warehouses were 
established by law for its storage and official inspection. The location of these houses 
was on the stream at the ferry for the King's Highway running down to Williamsburg, 
the provincial capital, one hundred and fifty miles distant. The inspectors were ap- 
pointed by the governor and council on the recommendation of the courts, and they 
were enjoined under severe penalties from allowing the storage of any but the best 
qualities of the crops. The "ferry," the warehouses, store and tavern became in 
time the nucleus of quite a numerous settlement and was the social as well as the trad- 
ing centre of the country for many miles around. Previous to 1742 the ferry neighbor- 
hood was included within the boundsof "Truro parish" of Prince William county but 
in that year it became a part of the new county of Fairfax. Prince William had 
been set off from the counties of Stafford and King George in 1730 with the county 
seat at Dumfries, then a flourishing shipping port on the Quantico. 

In 1753, eleven years after the organization of Fairfax, through the influence of 
Lawrence Washington, half brother of George who represented the new county in the 
House of Burgesses, an order was secured for the laying off of lots for a town at the 
Occoquan ferry, the provisions of which we cite from Henning's Statutes of 
Virginia: 

"It having been represented to the General Assembly of Virginia that a town on 
Occoquan river on lands of Peter Wagener, would be very convenient to navigation 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 73 

and trade and contribute to the advantage and convenience of frontier inhabitants, 
twenty-five acres of land are hereby ordered to be set apart, laid out and surveyed in 
to lots with convenient streets, a place for landing of boats on the river and a market 
square — the lots to be disposed of at auction to the highest bidder with the conditions 
that each purchaser be required to erect on each lot within two years, one house of 
brick or stone, or well framed wood, at least twenty feet square, with nine feet pitch, 
with brick or stone chimneys, and in default of these conditions the lot or lots are to 
revert back to the person or persons from whom purchased, and Peter VVagener. 
Daniel McCarty, John Barry, William Elzey and Edward Washington are hereby ap- 
pointed commissioners to carry out the provisions of this charter." This order was 
dated 1753. One year after this, the survey was made by George West. Forty-two 
lots were staked off, the most of them with 142 feet fronts by 165 feet in depth on 
streets 60 feet wide as is shown on the accompanying map made at the time by the 
county surveyor. Col. George Mason, ofGunston, in after years so distinguished as a 
sagacious. statesman and a trusted public servant in many important positions of his 
State, and Daniel McCarty, of Cedar Grove, were the first directors of the new town. 
The former of the two being the owner of several thousand acres near adjoining, the 
gre Iter portion of which being under cultivation in tobacco and grain, was particularly 
interested in the establishment of a shipping port so convenient for his products, and 
this solicitude for the success of the place like that of McCarty also an extensive 
planter continued through all his years. 

The town lots laid off were soon purchased by enthusiasts who believed they fore- 
saw great success for their ventures. There were no mines of the precious metals from 
which to make fortunes in a day, but nature's other resources for all of life's comforts 
and luxuries lay in profusion all about them, waiting only for the appointed hands of 
development. Houses rose apace, most of them wood and stone, and stores and ordina- 
ries were opened and multiplied as adventurers gathered, and eventually the streets were 
extended beyond their original limits and many additional lots were laid off. Essex 
was the principal street and Potomac and Fairfax the principal cross streets. Through 
Essex coursed the King's Highway. Commodious landings and piers were construct- 
ed where large vessels could lie safe at moorings, for there was no stint of oaks and 
pines in the near woods, and of quarries. All the conditions and possibilities seemed 
favorable and encouraging for the growth of a large town. I have seen a letter in a 
Philadelphia paper of a few years later written by a tourist through Virginia who 
thus alludes to the newly established port. "I was ferried over the Occoquan, a deep 
and capacious stream with romatic surroundings and pleasant prospects, where a town 
has been projected and chartered and called Colchester. It is beautifully situated in 
a fine region, has wide streets with an ample market space and substantial landings. 
Numerous houses have been built, some of them quite elegant, and vessels from 
Europe often come into the docks with cargoes of broadcloths, kersies, dufifields, cot- 
tons, crapes, rugs, blankets, Norwich stuffs, linens, furniture, wearing apparel, calicos, 
Persians, Taffaties, and other East India silks, Holland sheetings, wines, spices, coffee, 
tea, sugars, tropic fruits, axes, locks, hinges, nails, carpenters' joiners' and 'smiths' 
tools, fire arms, anchors and all other supplies needed for a new and thriving settle- 
ment. These ships take back with them tobacco, indian corn, wheat, flour, pork, 
hemp, masts, staves, boards, walnut planks, iron ore and furs. Imported commodities 
are sent coastwise in shallops and other small sailing craft to many other points on the 
tidewater, and a large trade in all kinds of provisions is kept with remote posts on the 
frontiers and over the mountains by the two great wagon roads to William's and 
Vestal's gaps on the Shenandoah. I dined at the Essex House, a commodious tavern 
or ordinary near the ferry, built partly of stone and partly of wood, with great outside 
chimneys of stone having capacious fireplaces. The dinner was of smoking venison 
and fish taken from wood and water that morning, and supplemented with tempting 
cakes of maize and a pitcher of excellent cider. The rate was one shilling and six 
pence which I did not demur at for so good a repast." Another traveller a few years 



74 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

after tells of his entertainment at the "Arms 'of Fairfax," where all manner of good 
tare was provided for the guest. 

The population of Fairfax in 1756 was of whites 5,488, and of negroes 1,842, but 
the county then extended indefinitely up the river, for Loudoun was not partitioned 
oiT until the year after. As the years went on, the incoming ships for outward cargoes 
of tobacco brought constantly new accessions of settlers and took back encouraging re- 
ports of the advantages of the place for trade and traffic. Travel was increasing on 
the King's Highway and new plantations were opening near and afar beyond. The 
knights of the "Golden Horse Shoe" under the lead of the gallant Spottswood had 
opened the way through the Blue Ridge Barrier to the fabled terra incognita beyond 
and shown that it was not a "land of venemous reptiles and pestilential ex- 
halations" as the story had gone with the colonists for more than a hundred years 
after the planting of Jamestown, but a goodly realm of great rivers and wholesome 
springs, and valleys deep with the forest mould of centuries. Dumfries was a flourish- 
ing place on Quantico creek, twelve miles below, though never so large, and Alexan- 
dria, on the Potomac twenty miles higher up, had been begun three years in advance 
of the Occoquan borough but neither of then) was considered a dangerous competitor 
for the increasing business of the upper Potomac region. 

Colchester in colonial times was doubtless a busy and stirring settlement. It was 
named ior an ancient borough and market town on the river Coin in the county of 
Essex, England, fifty one miles from London, and the former home of some of the 
projectors, notably Peter Wagener, who was born there in 1717, his father being Rev. 
Peter Wagener, rector of Sisted Parish. Peter the son, as already stated, owned the land 
on which Colchester was built. He was possessed of large tracts of land in the 
neighborhood and for forty-three years from 1752 he was clerk of the county of Fair- 
fax. He died in 1795 aged 78 years. The fact that an order of the court was given 
in 1752 for the removal of the county records from Colchester to Springfield on the 
old Braddock road eighteen miles above Alexandria, gives plausibility, even certainty, 
to the supposition that the regular sessions of the county were held there for the first 
ten years of its history; that is, the official terms of clerks Catesby Cooke to 1746, and 
John Graham to 1752. 

The new town on the Occoquan had a deep and navigable waterway and became in 
brief time the center of a large tobacco and grain trade. To its spacious warehouses 
from every direction by the rolling roads came great quantities of the Virginia staple 
in rolling hogsheads, and large square rigged and other vessels went sailing away 
with cargoes of it to the distant ports of London, Amsterdam, Madeira and Lisbon. 
At one time if we are to believe traditionary accounts, there were thirty stores and 
some of them quite extensive for the time. It had a bank of exchange, a tannery, 
several cooperies, bakeries, smiths and wagon shops, a furnance and forge, flour mills 
a rope walk, snuff factory, and other industries needed by an increasing population. 
Burnaby in his travels through "the middle parts of the colonies" in 1759 says: 
"There are iron works, furnaces and forges worked by cuts from the Occoquan just 
above Colchester, carried on by John Ballandine a very ingenious gentleman, which are 
of great public utility. The trade of this port consists chiefly ot tobacco and wheat and 
there is a very fine back country to support it and a considerable number of ships are 
laden here annually." A theatre was kept up also for the numerous showmen and 
mountebanks who then strolled the opening country. The same traveler alludes also 
to these strollers and describes one of their theatrical performances in an empty 
tobacco warehouse artistically fitted up for the occasion. 

For the through travel from and to Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Dumfries and 
other buroughs lying on the great highway below, and also for that of the travel 
between the ferry and the mountains above, there were established a number of ordi- 
naries or inns. The "Essex House" and the "Arms of Fairfax" have already been 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 75 

mentioned. The name of only one other has been handed down — the "Cross 
Keys," which stood somewhere in the neighborhood of the landing. 

The market house as already noted was on Essex street. Here were held also the 
fairs and all public gatherings of a secular nature. The fairs were authorized by law 
and often lasted for days, during which the rural population for miles around came in 
and there was high carnival of good cheer and merry making in which doubtless the 
roistering element had its full share. Cider, beer and other beverages of a more po- 
tential nature contributed to the general mirth, hilarity and abandon. 

Pohick Church edifice, five miles distant, accommodated all who were religiously 
inclined. The services there were of the established or royal Church of England. 
Every other religious service was prohibited in the colony by the most oppressive penal- 
ties. Davis, an English traveler, who passed much of his time in this neigborhood 




THE ARMS OF FAIRFAX. 



about 1800 published a book of his observations which he inscribed to Thomas Jefferson. 
He was a teacher in the family of Thomas EUicot, a Quaker and proprietor then of the 
flour mill a short distance above the ferry. In his book he thus describes a visit to 
the ancient parish church "I rode to Pohick on Sunday and joined the congregation of 
parson Weems, a minister of the Episcopal church who was cheerful in his mien that 
he might win men to religion. A Virginia church yard on a Sunday resembles rather 
a race course than a sepulchral ground. The ladies come to it in carriages, and the 
men after dismounting from their horses make them fast to the trees. P.ut the steeples 
to the Virginia churches are designed not for utility but for ornament; for the bell is 
always suspended to a tree a few yards distant. I was astounded on entering the yard 
to hear 

"Steed threaten steed with high and boastful neigh." 

Nor was I less stunned by the rattling of carriage wheels, the cracking of whips and 
the vociferations of the gentry to the negroes who accompanied them. But the 



76 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

discourse of Mr. Weems calmed every perturbation; for he preached the great doctrine 
of salvation as one who had felt its powers." This was the church where George 
Washington frequently attended religious service. He was also one of its vestry, as 
had been his father Augustine, and contributed largely to its support. It was distant 
about five miles from Mt. Vernon. 

"■ Parson Weems was the author of a "life" of Washington, a book abounding in 
many curious and quaint descriptions which set all the established canons of criticism 
and rules of taste at utter defiance. It was published in 1808. Weems, first of all others 
in his book related the oft heard story of the "little hatchet." He little thought when 
his story shaped itself in his imagination that it was to descend to posterity andbe 
grounded into the heads of children in the nursery as a piece of immortal and instruct- 
ive truth. The book is very rare now, and not often to be found, save on the shelves 
of old libraries, but it will well repay a perusal to any one who can find it, for its 
quaint style and lofty flights of language, j 








POHICK CHURCH. 



The remains of parson Weems lie entombed in the old family burying ground of 
Belle Air a few miles from Dumfries. 

Davis thus speaks of the "ordinaries" of Colchester: "They are not inferior to 
those of the market towns of old England, having numerous and convenient apartments 
with carpets and looking glasses ; and no man more complaisant and courteous than 
the landlords. Only enter their houses with money in your pocket and their features 
soften into the blandishments of delight. Call, and your mandates are obeyed. 
Extend your leg and th^^ bootjack is forthcoming. Every luxury that money can pur- 
chase may be had at first summons. The choicest viands cover the tables, and ice 
cools the Madeira which has been thrice across the ocean." With such sumptuous 
fare provided, and such accomodating offices from "mine hosts," surely those who 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 77 

came over to visit their friends in the newly planted colony must have been favorably 
impressed with the country's hospitality and resources. At that time wild game of 
all kinds was plentiful in the forests, and fish of excellent varieties were abundant in 
all the streams. The entire land was indeed a veritable Canaan with milk and honey 
everywheie abounding. The keeper of every ordinary or tavern in the ancient 
-borough was required by law to keep posted on his door for public inspection the 
following scale of prices to govern his charges for diet and toddies. This scale was 
ordered by the court of Fairfax county in 1755 and was continued the regulation 
with but little change for half a century — 

Gallon of rum, Ss; gallon of brandy, los; quart of cider, 4d ; quart of madeira, 2s 6d; 
^ill of rum made into a punch v.'ith loaf sugar, 6d; do with brown sugar, 46; one doz. 
Eng strong beer, is 6d; do porter, is; a hot diet with small beer or cider, is 6d; a night's 
lodging with clean sheets, 6d; one gallon corn or oats for horse, 4d; stabling and 
fodder for horse twenty four hours 6d. 

The region around Colchester, now overgrovvn with pines, cedars and sedge grass or 
yielding but meagre returns to the small farmer with his scattered patches of corn and 
market products; were then planted in the old Virginia staple, and as prices were 
mostly good in the European markets, the planter prospered under his cheap labor 
system and exemption from opipressive taxation and had money to spend at store and 
tavern. In 1758 healthy negro boys arrived in the colony for the plantations were 
bought for from 20 to 30 pounds sterling and adults from 40 to 50 pounds, and tobacco 
of first quality commanded from 15 to 20 shillings per hundredweight. 

' In Colchester occurred the circumstance related of parson Weems, when he unex- 
pectedly filled the role of fiddler for a strolling show of "Punch and Judy" in the 
absence of the regular musician. A large audience, composed chiefly of the parson's 
parishioners, had assembled to witness the performance, but at the eleventh hour it 
was found that the company's fiddler had been imbibing too much "rum" or 
Madeira to accompany the play with harmony of sweet sounds. So, knowing that 
Weems who was no sorry player, was on the ground, the showman was only too glad 
to press his reverence in for the emergency and it was not long before everything was 
going merry as a marriage bell. But unluckily one of the crowd, too curious in such 
matters, just before the close of the play, raising the curtain, disclosed to view the familiar 
face of the jovial and merry making parson. But the disclosure, instead of working to his 
discredit was promptly and considerately overlooked and forgiven when he came 
forward with bland and smiling countenance and told the audience by way of expla- 
nation of his little irregularity, that "out of kindness and the purest of motives he had 
determined that thev should not be disappointed in an innocent amusement. Weems 
was termed the ''fiddling parson," and the story goes that like good old Lyman 
Beecher, of New England, he was as much at home in the semi- quavers and demisemi 
quavers of the jig and the hornpipe as in the slower and more staid measures of hymn 
and psalmody. It is related of him that on a Saturday night he would repair to the 
mansion nearest the church and as soon as the evening meal was over and he had 
officiated with due solemnity at prayers which came directly after supper, he would 
produce his violin and according as the season permitted, in the parlor, the hall or on 
the portico would entrance the assembled auditory with a performance which long 
remained the delight of the story teller and a traditional model to all ambitious 
fiddlers. He was particularly pleased with the scores of sable listeners who were wont 
to crowd under the windows or in the passages; for he knew well that the more they 
were delighted with his music the more certain they were to be at church service 
next Sunday. 

Our parson of Truro parish was doubtless a sincere, enthusiastic, honest clergyman, 
the enemy of gambling, intemperance and most of the prevailing vices of his day, 
against which he wrote books which had' great popularity, going through many 



/b SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

editions and he is said to have been the genial and winning advocate of virtue and 
religion, the warmth of his heart and his many kindly cfhces endearing him to the 
people of all classes wherever he went, and preparing them to give a fond ear to his 
fervid appeals for truth. Above all he was an ardent partriot whose enthusiasm for the 
liberties of his countrymen was the master passion of his soul. He was no ascetic, 
and did not go his ways moping and groaning in spirit because of the ills of life 
around him. His "odor of sanctity" that he left with his vestments in the sacristy 
offended no one. 

Of the eccentric but well meaning and striving 
parson whose dust rests unmarked in the family 
burying ground of historic Belle Air mansion, but a 
short distance from Occoquan, we may perhaps speak 
as did the poet Goldsmith of the preacher of the 
"Deserted Village of Auburn." 



"Unskillful he to fawn or kees for power. 

By doctrine fashion'd to the varying hour; 
Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, 

More bent to raise the wTetched than to rise. 
His house was known to all the vagrant train, 

He chi'd their wanderings, but relieved their pain; 
The long remembered beggar was his guest," 

"The ruined spendthrift now no longer proud, 
Claim'd kindred there and had his claim allowed. 

Pleas'd with his guests the good man learned to glow, 
And quite forgot their vices in their woe." 




PARSON WEEM.'i. 



Those were quaint times, times of large moral and religious license. The morals 
were loose and permitted wide departure from the more rigorous standards of our 
straight laced time?. Church observances were kept up in strict conformity with the 
traditional usages and fashion prevailing in old England and the creed and rituals of 
the church were not lost sight of, but beyond this there did not seem to be, judging 
through the lapse of time much fervent religious zeal among the laity or clergy. It 
was customary after Church services, says Fontaine in his account of the manners and 
customs of those early times in Virginia, for the congregation to fill their pipes with the 
fragrant plant and indulge in a friendly smoke. 

At that time all the clergymen of the different parishes of the province were appoint- 
ed by the governor on the recommendation of the bishop of London, and the annual 
stipend of each one of them was sixteen thousand ])Ounds of tobacco, made and 
provided by legislative enactment. The value of this salary, however, was variable by 
reason of the changes in the market price consequent on the quantity sliipped to 
Europe and also on account of the quality or kind of tobacco. In some parishes only 
"Oronoco" could be raised which was inferior to "sweet scented." Many a poor 
clergyman's household was filled with joy at tidings of his promotion from an Oronoco 
parish to a sweet scented parish as they are described in the old vestry books. But 
there were many parishes where little or no tobacco could be grown to advantage and 
these were left without regular ministrations. 

The Virginia settlers were social and convivial to a wonderful degree. They had 
jione of the gloomy austerity and morbid piety of the New England puritan. Our 
popular evangelizing methods had not yet sprung up among them nor were they vexed 
by the expostulations of our temperance societies. No gathering was there among 
them of any kind whether civil or religious, where foreign or hotne made drinks more 
or less intoxicating did not form a part of the programme, at the evening party, at the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. /» 

horse race, the fox chase, the barbecue, at the election, the mustering and even at 
the funeral. On every occasion indeed, the flagon and the cup were in order. "They 
were a gay, happy people; a race of sportsmen, cock fighters and fox hunters, bright, 
humorous and sociable ; in the saddle by day and feasting and dancing by night ; and 
we leave them with the impression that the hounds were always baying in Virginia, 
that the sun shone all day long, and all night the fiddles scraped and the darkies sang, 
But these men were the strongest intellects of their century. With no pretensions nor 
show of book learning, they seem to have possessed themselves of all the essential in- 
formation of their time. They had a soundness of judgment, a breadth of grasp, a 
lofty ambition and a high and strong sense of honor which made them master minds. 

"Some subtle combination of climate, life, and thought produced this result, which, 
like all such things becomes difficult in the last analysis; and unfortunately the 
Virginians, while they were great makers of history, were not wiiteis. Scraps, relics 
and ruins are all that remain of their curious and interesting civilization and for many 
phases of their life, we have only the onesided comments and criticism on its excesses." j 

The town of Colchester was protected in a time of peace, but afar in the West the 
war cloud was rising. Early in the spring of 1755 the wild din of the drum and fife 
of the recruiting sergeant was heard in its streets summoning the inhabitants of town 
and neighborhood to arms. Startling rumors had been coming down by couriers and 
fleeing settlers from Winchester and beyond, telling of hostile incursions of the 
French and their murderous Indian allies from the Ohio valley. Governor Dinwid- 
dle had issued his proclamation and call for troops for the common defence and they 
were hurrying from the Virginia counties below, by the great highway and "ferry" to 
the general rendezvous at Alexandria. The Governor from Williamsburg came up in 
his vice regal chariot, accompanied by General Braddock, Commodore Keppel and 
their showy retinues on their way to Alexandria to meet in council of war with the 
other provincial Governors, Delancy, Morris, Shirley, Sharpe and Dobbs. Keppel's 
fleet was sailing up the Potomac|from Hampton, bringing the royal troopsjwho were to 
co-operate with the provincial forces. In the council which was held in the old 
Carlisle House were to be arranged the details of the prospective campaign which be- 
fore the close of the succeeding summer was to end so disastrously to the British and 
pro/incial forces. One company of the "royal guards" followed the general and 
Governor and camped by general orders for a night at Colchester. Col. ^\ashington 
had been commissioned to superintend the raising and equipment of volunteers for the 
war with headquarters at Alexandria. From Colchester went a company of rangers 
not decked out in gaudy uniforms of scarlet plumes and guilding like the "guards," 
but in hunting jackets and trousers of plain and coarse materials, but each man had 
his flint lock musket, his horn of powder, bag of bullets, long knife and tomahawk. 
Little though'" their brave captain as his hardy men took up their line of march from 
the banks of the Occoquan that he was soon to see so many of his command fall before 
the deadly fire of the Indians in ambuscade and the blundering British regulars, in 
front of the battlements of Fort Duquesne. Here is the story of the slaughter as told 
in the official account: "The conduct of the Virginia troops was worthy of a better 
fate. They boldly formed and marched up the hill, only to be fired upon by the 
frightened royal troops. Captain Wagener brought up eighty men to take possession 
of a knoll on the top of which a fallen tree was lying, three or four feet in diameter, 
which he intended to use as a bulwark. He marched up and took possession with 
shouldered arms, and with a loss of only three men killed by the enemy. As soon as 
his men discharged their pieces upon the Indians in the ambuscade which was exposed 
to him from their position, and when the movement might have driven the enemy 
from their coverts, the smoke of the discharge was seen by the British soldiery and 
they fired upon the gallant little band, so that they were obliged to leave their position 
and retreat down the hill with a loss of fifty killed out of eighty. Some of the men 
who were thus sacrificed had been with Colonel Washington the vear before in the 



80 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

expedition to the Great Meadows. Capt. Wagener had been well known by him for 
years as a neighbor and through often meeting together at the court sessions and 
other public gatherings of the county, and they were destined to be often thrown 
together in coming years; for at the commencement ot the revolution Col. Wagener 
commanded a Virginia regiment and did good service in the continental struggle. 

During the few years of the troubles with the French and Indians the progress of 
Colchester was slow, but the days of prosperity came again with the return of peace. 
The colonies of settlers along the Shenandoah and the streams beyond, now secure in 
their possessions and pursuits were augmented by large accessions of German and 
other immigrants ; and the overland trade by the great roads leading to Williams', 
Vestal and Ashby's gaps flourished more than ever before. Ships came and went 
with their cargoes, and the town expanded and grew into importance as a port of 
entry and trading center. The "General Assembly" in 1762 authorized the court of 
Fairfax "to erect, build and completely furnish so many strong, close and substantial 
houses as shall be sufficient to contain all the tobacco coming to Colchester for inspec- 
tion." 

Colchester was on the great highway or "post road" from Baltimore to Fredericks- 
burg and other important points of the southern tidewater region, and here is an old 
advertisement giving the schedule of stage coach travel at the beginning of the 
present century : 

"Stage Line From Baltimore to Richmond, — The traveling public is informed that 
stages leave Balimore daily at 3 a.m. Arrive at Colchester in Virginia the same even- 
ing before dark, 66 miles. Leave Colchester 3 a. m., arrive at White Chimneys, 
Hanover county, before dark, 70 miles. Leave White Chimneys 3 a. m. and arrive at 
Richmond by 10 a. m. 30 miles. Returning leave Richmond 8 a. m., arrive at 
Bowling Green same evening — 47 miles. Leave Bowling Green 3 a. m. and arrive at 
Alexandria by dark — 72 miles. Leave Alexandria at 3 a. m. and arrive at Baltimore 
by 2 p. m." 

In 1784 Nathaniel Twining was by an act of the general assembly granted the sole 
and exclusive right of conveying passengers between Alexandria and Richmond, for 
each passenger five pence per mile and five pence for every 150 pounds of baggage 
exceeding 14 pounds conveyed in stage coach. In 1787 John Hoomes was granted 
the exclusive right for the same service at 3 pence 3 farthings per passenger and same 
charge for 150 pounds of baggage. 

Washington in one of his diaries thus records one of his experiences at the Colches- 
ter ferry. "In attempting to cross the Occoquan, April, 179T, with the four horses 
attached to my chariot, by neglect of the person who stood before them, one of the 
leaders got overboard, when the boat was in swimming water, fifty yards from the 
shore. With much difficulty he escaped drowning before he could be disengaged. 
His struggling frightened the others in such a manner that one after another in quick 
succession they all got overboard, harnessed and fastened as they were, and with the 
utmost difficulty they were saved, and the carriage escaped being dragged after them, 
as the whole of it happened in swimming water and at a distance from the shore, 
providentially, indeed miraculously, by the exertions of persons who went off in boats 
and jumped into the river as soon as the batteau was forced into wading water. No 
damage was sustained by the horses, carriage or harness." The first President had 
just started out that morning from Mount Vernon, eight miles above, to make a friendly 
tour, the first after his election, through the States of the South. It was not a very 
auspicious beginning, but as he was not a superstitious man he kept on, according to 
his diary, a few extracts of which we give to show his ways of traveling: 

"Proceeded on to Dumfries where I dined, after which I visited and drank tea with 
my niece, Mrs. Thomas Lee. Friday 8th. Set out about 6 o'clock ; breakfasted at 
Stafford Courthouse and dined at my sister Lewis's in Fredericksburg. 



OF VIKQINIA AND MARYLAND 81 

"Saturday 9th, dined at an entertainment given by the citizeRs of the to\¥n. Re- 
ceived and answered an address from the corporation. Sunday, 19th, left Fredericks- 
burg about 6 o'clock ; myself, Major Jackson and one servant breakfasted at Gen. 
Spottswood's — the rest of my servants continued on to Todd's ordinary where they 
also breakfasted. Dined at Bowling Green, and lodged at Kenner's tavern 14 miles 
farther, in all 85 miles. 

A wide contrast we perceive between the primitive and cumbrous way of a chief 
magistrate making his official rounds among his people with coach and four a century 
ago and the rapid luxurious ways of transit which he may have at his disposal in our 
day and generation. 

Ten years before this experience Washington had crossed the Occoquan by this 
same ferry with his ragged and battered army, going down to checkmate the move- 
ments of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. General Lafayette also passed down the 
same way. The troops of both commands were quartered at Colchester for several 
days to recruit for the long march before them, and ample commissary supplies 
were laid in from the stores and mills of the neighborhood. 

The county lieutenants had been instructed by Washington, "to order out all the 
local militia to repair the roads by which the troops were to march, and make them 
passable for wagons, as the baggage trains of the American forces, and the Infantry, 
artillery and cavalry and the beef cattle were all to take that route," and Washington 
also wrote to prominent citizens of the different neighborhoods through which the 
armies were to pass "as a pleasing mark of attention" to assist the French officers, 
Lafayette, Rochambeau, Chasteleux, and others with their carriages from point to 
point. 

Colonel George Mason of Gunston had charge of the Occoquan ferry for some years 
after the tolls were abolished and received for its maintenance and daily service two 
thousand jiounds of tobacco annually. Davis, the traveler, already quoted, speaks of 
a "grand bridge which had supplanted the ferry as having semi-elliptical arches scarce 
inferior to those of princely London." This was erected by Thomas Mason in 1795. 
Its building was authorized by the general assembly. In a letter written by George 
Mason dated 1791, he makes mention of a ship going out from the port laden with 
tobacco and another lying at the warehouse loading with the same commodity. 
Among other industries of the place were extensive iron works, a furnace and a forge. 
The iron was made from a combination of surface or bog ore found near Colchester 
and magnetic or mountain ore brought down in scows from the Virginia shore near 
the Great Falls of the Potomac. Some of the cannon and round shot used in the 
battles of the revolution were cast there. Burnaby in his description of the place 
says there were two flour mills and a saw mill. This was in 1759. The Hendersons 
and Cockburns were prominent merchants of the town and sent goods they had im- 
ported, by coasting vessel to New York and Philadelphia and the rising towns of the 
South, which appears by old ledgers still preserved. Many c>f their commodities were 
sent by wagons to the frontier settlements as far as the Shenandoah Valley and beyond, 
wagoned through the different gaps. The names of other merchants of Colchester that 
we have met with in our researches are Grayson, Ross, Chapin, Mitchell, Linton, 
Barnes &: Ridgate, Lindsay, Gurden, Jenifer & Hooe, Hartshorn & Co., Ferguson 
& Gibson, Bavley & Stone, Thompson & Washington, Stuart & Muschett, Mick & 
Wrird, EUicott, Campbell &: Wheeler, McCrea &: Co., Harrison, Walker, Hoskins, 
Skehon, Mason, Carson, Willet, McPherson, and Belt. 

The Star of Colchester which dawned so promisingly had reached its zenith and 
was beginning to wane before 1800. Like many another town such as Jamestown and 
Dumfries in Virginia, and St. Marys and Joppa and Queen Anne and Charlestown in 
Maryland for all of which their projectors doubtless forecasted "old walls and happy 
days," it was compelled to yield to the shapings of new conditions of trade and traf- 
fic, and travel born of the progress of invention and discovery until its glory passed 



82 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

away forever. The yield of tobacco from the surrounding lands had greatly diminish- 
ed and Alexandria, on the main river, but a few miles above with a situation far better 
for commerce, though but a few years older, diverted its business and completely over 
shadowed its growth and existence. 

In 1809 a great flood swept away the "grand bridge with its semi-elliptical arches" 
and filled up the deep channel of the stream, so that its navigation was difficult and 
foreign vessels came no more for cargoes to its docks. The iron works, tanneries, 
cooperies and rope walks fell into disuse. Many of the inhabitants with occupations 
gone, migrated to new homes then opening everywhere in the great West beyond 
the Alleghanies, and one by one the warehouses, stores and ordinaries ceased their 
traffic and were closed. Numbers of those who still remained fell victims it is related 
of an epidemic of "pleurisy." 

As the years passed, new highways were opened diverting the tide of travel. In 1815 
a drunken woman accidentally set fire on a windy day to some tenements. The flames 
rapidly spreading left nearly every building of the ill-fated town in ruins. Thus, the 
work of destruction by flood and pestilence and fire was complete. The stones, bricks 
and other valuable materials of these ruins served afterwards to build up farm houses 
on neighboring lands. The plough-share long since turned up their foundations and 
the very streets on which they stood. Of all the tenemeiits but two or three are 
now remaining. These siand ghost-like and forlorn in their loneliness, mute but elo- 
quent witnesses of a century and more of passing strange events. One of these build- 
ings is the old hostelry, known as the "Arms of Fairfa.\." It shows all over it the 
marks of age but it is quite well preserved considering the many destructive mutations 
which it hassurvived. Under its roof were sheltered from time to time many of the fore- 
most actors in the great struggle which led to our national independence. In its 
rooms were held many meetings of the Virginia patriots in those stirring days to con- 
sider the grave issues born of the oppressive measures of the British parliament. In 
the palmy days of the town when the tide of travel surged by its door over the old 
"King's Highway" from Williamsburg up over the Occoquan and on through the 
estate of Mount Vernon to Alexandria and beyond to the Blue Ridge mountains it 
was a hostelry of great repute anear and afar. It was the Inn where the red and yellow 
lumbering stage coach always stopped with its wayfarers. It was the place where the 
politicians of the surrounding neighborhood came to fix up their slates for the coming 
elections and where the loungers did congregate to get the "freshest advices" dropped 
by the passing travelers. The old weather beaten structure on account of interesting 
historic associations surely deserves that timely care of some of our patriotic societies 
which might make possible its yet long continuance as a land mark of the vanished 
town. 

Not a vestige of the piers and wharves where stately ships had come so often to de- 
liver and receive cargoes is now to be seen. But here before me is a "Bill of Lading" 
of one of the many cargoes which left the long vanished warehouses. It has survived 
the changes of the years. The paper is brown and crumbling. The writing is almost 
illegible. The hand which traced it has been dust a hundred and fifty years. It is a 
talisman to call up the scenes of the once busy port and to make them fresh again — 

"Shipped October 20th, 1750, by the grace of God in good order and well condi- 
tioned, fifty hogsheads of sweet scented tobacco and ten of Oronoco by Henry Gray- 
son, merchant, in and upon the good ship Enterprise, whereof is master under God for 
this present voyage Captain John Robinson, and now riding at anchor in Occoquan 
rivtr and by God's grace bound for Rotterdam, &c., and so God send the good ship 
to her destined haven in safety. Amen." 

An aged resident of the neighborhood remembers a portion of the old landings of 
the port, but no one living can tell just where stood the hostelry nearby the ferry 
known as the Essex H'ouse and often spoken of by early travelers. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 83 

"Low lies that house where nut brown draughts inspired ; 
Where gray beard mirth and smiling toil retired ; 
Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, 
And news much older than their ale went around. 
Imagination fondly stoops to trace 
The glowing splendors of that parlor place — 
The Whitewashed walls, the nicely sanded floor 
The vanished clock that ticked behind the door, 
The chest contrived a double debt to pay — 
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day." 

There are old ledgers of the merchants bound in vellum still in existence, which 
afford curious reading and give us exact information about the prices of all the'articles 
of merchandise then sold in the stores, afld the names of the customers of the times 
George Washington's among them. But this waif dated Colchester on Occoquan, Va.' 
May, 1760, is the only letter we have seen from that far offshore of the past. 

'♦Dear cousin Mary, I have opportunity to send you a message by Mr. John Mc- 
Gregor, master of the brig "Good Fortune," which came into our port of entry near- 
ly three weeks ago, and is now loading with tobacco and will sail for London in a 
few days. By the Good Fortune we received your welcome letter and the bale of 
acceptable tokens of your abiding remembrance and affection. Nothing you could 
have sent us would have been more useful to us in this far off country. We are very 
grateful for your good offices. McGregor is said to be a good seaman and his vessel 
very staunch, but the weather at sea was very tempestuous and he was nearly six weeks 
making the voyage. May he find more favoring gales on his return. I have conclud- 
ed to be a Virginian and to cast my lot among the colonists. I like the country. It 
is a land of plenty for everybody. Colchester has a very pleasant situation on a deep 
river. Its trade is increasing and houses are building. We see many Indians passing 
through, but they are friendly and going over the mountains. The wars are over and 
the plantations are peaceful and quiet. We have regular church service in the neigh- 
borhood. The people are very hospitable to all newcomers. Remember me to ail 
inquiring friends, and believe me as ever, 

'Your loving cousin, 

Joseph Adams." 

In 1776 Colchester suffered from the malicious depredations of Governor Dunmore 
the last of the colonial vice regents. Failing in his attempt to subjugate the people 
of the province to his arbitrary rule he was compelled to flee from Williamsburg, and 
collecting a lawless band of his adherents, tories and negroes, he embarked with them 
on a fleet of vessels — schooners and sloops, and commenced a series of harassing incur- 
sions upon the plantations and settlements all along the tide water regions. They 
sailed up the Occoquan, burned the flour mills, a number of dwellings and a portion of 
the landings but were compelled on the appearance of the Prince William militia to 
retreat. Colchester became a post town doubtless at the time of the French and 
Indian war, for Benjamin Franklin then postmaster general, was in Virginia establish- 
ing: mail routes and post offices. By old ledgers of merchants it is evident that an 
office was established there before 1760. No record, however, of the fact exists in the 
post office department at Washington earlier than 1790. Then, William Thompson 
was postmaster and held the office until 1793, when Zachariah Ward succeeded him 
and continued until 1S04, then Samuel Bailey succeeded and continued until iSix, 
whom Thomas Morgan succeeded and continued until October, 1815, when the office 
was discontinued. 

Of the families which left the firesides of the old town in its decadence and bent 
their ways toward the opening lands of the sun setting beyond the Alleghanies, to the 
rich lands of the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois and the Mississippi, who shall tell? 
Who shall tell the story of their migration ? Who shall tell how they scattered and 
branched to the remote regions of the earth as the years went on ? Some of them 
mayhap did not find the Canaans of their hopes and dreams and came to grieve that 



84 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

they had left the pleasant banks of the Occoquan. To others perhaps, the life lines 
fell in favoring places and they prospered and were glad that they had shaken the 
dust of Virginia from their feet. 

There is for us now, when so many years have passed and so many marvelous 
changes have been wrought in our country, a pathetic interest in the vanished settle- 
ment of the Occoquan. 

Colchester was a connecting link between the time when the Virginia pioneers 
crossed the waters of the Occoquan to take possession of the slopes and valleys of the 
Blue Ridge and the time when the United colonies were passing through their first 
decade of independence. 

Forty years ago the writer first visited this interesting locality and with all the 
eagerness of a historic pilgrim listened to the recitals of aged men who were well 
grown boys before the disastrous calamities already noted befell the town. From these 
living witnesses he gathered many of the facts set forth in this sketch and he trusts 
that the efforts here made to preserve a few of the old landmarks of Virginia from ir- 
retrievable destruction may stimulate others of like tastes and inclinations to similar work 
in other directions of the wide field of our much neglected colonial history. There were 
old slaves on the surrounding plantations who remembered much about early events of 
the Occoquan region. They told also strange stories they had heard from the lips of 
their fathers and grandfathers of the circumstances of the elder days as they tended 
together the "bacca and cawn craps," or sat grouped on winter nights in the glowing 
fire light of the log cabins— stories of Indian massacres, of dead felons hanging in 
chains by the waysides and of slavers landing their cargoes of men and women from 
**de coast of Gumea" who chattered in their strange tongues "like monkeys" as 
they went off in gangs to "de way back plantations." 

During the first year of the civil war the locality of Colchester was alternately 
occupied by the scurrying troops of both of the contending armies. Now it was the 
troopers of Stuart or Mosby or Hampton dashing over the fenceless fields of sedge 
and cedars. Now it was the raiders of Custer and Sheridan galloping down the 
gullied and otherwise forsaken highways. The pensive wayfayer as he passes over 
the site of this vanished town which was founded two years before the fleet of Com- 
modore Keppel with the army of General Braddock sailed up the Potomac to Alexan- 
dria, sighs as he recalls the din and traffic once heard along the streets of Essex, Fair- 
fax and Potomac in the early colonial days, and with sadness akin to grief thinks of 
the forgotten life histories — the joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears and disappoint- 
ments which were realized by the generations whose places shall know them no more 
forever, 

Where life and beauty But go at the gloaming 

Dwelt long ago, Down by the river's side 

The waving sedges And listen, listen 

And brambles grow, ^ To its hurrying tide. 

All who met there In its rip|)ling and its rhythms 

In days of yore In fancy you may hear 

Now see not, hear not, Some token low or knelling 

They are no more. Of each forgotten year. 

In passing along with the thread of our story we must not lose sight of the "Old King's 
Highway," for it was truly an historic landmark : none in all our land more so — 
none more closely connected with more of the colonial events and circumstances 
which led to the great "Revolution" and the union of the thirteen provinces. 

Long years, mayhap centuries, before the sound of the axe was heard in the Poto- 
mac wilds or any plow share had upturned the virgin furrows, it was but a path or 
trail between the tidewater shores and the lowlands, and Alleghany mountains, along 
which only the roving sons of the forest threaded their way. When the Englishman 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 85 

came he cleared and widened it and made it "a way and a high way" for his modes 
of travel. For nearly a hundred years after the founding of Alexandria and Colches- 
ter it was the busiest thoroughfare in Virginia. It was the great stage coach and post 
route between Richmond and Baltimore. In, 1795 ^ second bridge was built over the 
Occoquan two miles above Colchester, and from this a new road, the present Tele- 
graph road, was laid out to Alexandria which being shorter than the old highway, 
diverted much of its travel, and the steamboat lines of the upper Potomac, the first of 
which was established in 1815, diverted still more. In 1804 the present town of 
Occoquan was incorporated. Thirty-one acres belonging 10 Nathaniel Ellicott, pro- 
prietor of the flour mills, James Campbell and Luke Wheeler, were laid off into lots 
with convenient streets, and James Keith, Thomas T. Page and James Coffer were 
appointed first trustees of the town. The route of the old highway north of Colches- 
ter was through Lorton Valley, by Lewis Chapel, Accotink, Washington's old mill, 
head of Little Hunting creek at Gum Spring, and thence by the head of Great Hunt- 
ing creek at Cameron to Alexandria. From Alexandria beyond, it branched into two 
roads which followed the old Indian trails of which one kept on nearly identical in 
the course of the present Leesburg turnpike till passing through Loudoun county 
it found a pissage gap in the Blue Ridge at the Shenandoah. The other followed the 
trail nearly identical with the course of the present Little River turnpike, passed through 
Aldie and Middleburg and found a gap in the same ridge. Both of these roads since 
1755 have been called Braddock's from the fact that a portion of his army passed over 
each. 

In another sketch of this series I have made the old highway the subject of an ex- 
tended description embracing its many interesting historical associations with map 
accompaniment and table of distances. 

The old "ox road" must not be passed by without a notice. It also was originally 
an Indian trail and was one of the first tobacco rolling roads opened to the Colchester 
warehouses. Its course may now be traced across the telegraph road at Violets, by 
Stoneleigh, the Almshouse, Chantilly and on to Dranesville and beyond to the Poto- 
mac. 

Our sketch of Colchester would be incomplete without a more particular allusion to 
the iron works of John Ballandine, mentioned by the English traveler Burnaby. The 
glowing fires of the furnaces which melted the ores into cannon and shot for the conti- 
nental army, long since ceased to cast their glare upon the hurrying waters of the 
Occoquan. The din of the ponderous hammers which beat and fashioned in the 
early days the anchors and plow shares has been silent a hundred years, but the ruins 
of the old works are yet visible, the heaps of slag heie and there remaining, the dried up 
sluiceways and the almost obliterated wagon roads of other days are fraught with 
associations which vividly call up to memory a hero of five wars whose sacrifices, 
patriotism and soldierly deeds our country has been slow to properly appreciate and 
fittingly recognize. When Dinwiddie and Braddock and Commodore Keppel with 
their showy retinues and scouts passed through the town, and the rangers of Wagner 
marched awav as already noted, this hero not yet twenty years of age, was filling the 
humble roll of teamster in the employ of Ballandine, hauling ore to his furnace for a 
few shillings a day. His adventurous spirit caught the military enthusiasm of the 
times. He left ore and furnace and turned his horses' heads up the King's Highway 
in the direction of the military encampments at Alexandria where all was activity and 
busy preparations for the expedition over the mountains. 

Henceforth for many years his hitherto prosaic life was to be one of strange adventures 
more like the marvels of romance than the actual realities of history. In the inevitable 
course of his destiny he was to be a most conspicuous actor and directing spirit in 
the momentuous events and circumstances which called into being and shaped the 
grand conditions of our American republic. 



86 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Braddock's quartermaster needed wagons to carry up the baggage and supplies of 
the army. He joined the expedition though not as an enlisted man, but as a driver of 
his own team. And now we follow him in his toilsome course over the newly opened 
and rugged ways of the forest and swamps, and through the bridgeless streams of the 
wilderness region ; and ere long we find him under the direction of a British subaltern 
in charge of the entire wagon train. And no one could have been selected better 
qualified for the difficult position ; for all his boyhood occupation, first as a farmer in 
New Jersey, and afterwards as a teamster in Virginia, hauling merchandise from tide- 
water to the frontier posts, or iron ore to the iurnace of Ballandine, had been a fitting 
preparation for his responsible charge. Handy with an axe, he could readily fell a 
tree; with his strong shoulder he could move mired wheels; with his intuitive knowl- 
edge of horses, he could coix them into drawing the laden wagons through the 
difficult places and his good judgment and management inspired the other teamsters. 
It was when giving orders one day about the passage over a rocky road that he had a 
dispute with a British lieutenant, who in his rage struck him with his sword. This 
was too much for our stripling teamster. He could not brook the officer's insolence 
and so felled him with his strong arm to the ground. For this act of insubordination 
he was sentenced by a drumhead courtmartial to be tied to a tree and receive on his 
bareback four hundred and ninety-nine lashes. He submilted heroically, and, as he 
afterwards related, counted every lash. After the barbarity was finished the flesh 
hung in strips from his back, but he survived the ordeal, vowing that sooner or later 
he would have his vengeance on "Royal George," and truly he was as good as his 
word as the sequel proved. 

Ninety-nine out of a hundred men taken in the ordinary, with less of moral courage 
and honest conviction, would have slunk away from their post in utter abjectness and 
mortification at this humiliating treatment and been heard of no more. Not so with 
our hero. He kept faithfully on along the rugged lines he had chosen and which 
were to lead to triumph and success. His manliness and integrity won for him con- 
fidence and respect. The insolent officer came to him in remorse and contrition and 
asked to be forgiven for having been the cause of his fiendish treatment. The name 
of this military upstart no page of history has handed down to us. A merited oblivion 
covers it, while that of another officer, not one of tliose who came over the seas with 
Braddock, bedizened with lace and tinsel but one of the Virginia provincial line in blue 
and buff and homespun who very soon after gave to him the helping hand of friendship, 
will ever be one of the foremost in the annals of time. It was after the disastrous 
battle on the Monongahela when the British regulars were fleeing in confusion that the 
coolness, judgment and eminent services of our hero in the perilous work of carrying 
off the wounded from the field were particularly noticed by Col. Washington, who 
afterwards specially mentioned his meritorious conduct to Governor Dinwiddie. On 
the 30th of August, 1755, he enlisted as a soldier in the 2nd company of the Virginia 
Rangers commanded by Capt. John Ashby. He was the tallest man in the company 
and the second on the roll. His height was over six feet and his age twenty. Capt. 
Ashby had been one of the first to employ him. When a mere boy he first settled in 
Virginia, and he knew well his good qualities for a soldier. He did not continue 
long a private. Through Col. Washington's influence he was made an ensign, then 
a lieutenant, and a little later a captain, though the haughty Governor was reluctant to 
accord these merited honors to one who had so lately been known as only a common 
laborer. Washington had discovered in him superior judgment and great ex'Ccutive 
ability, and the emergencies along the frontiers at ihit time required every man of 
that character for the common defense. And now, we take our leave of Daniel 
Morgan, the plodding, but competent and faithful wagoner, and make the acquain- 
tance of Captain Morgan at the head of a company of fearless fighters of the Virginia 
line who are proud of their leader for they recognize in him a born soldier, a daring 
chief and a magnanimous comrade. Let us follow him in his wonderful course as he 
steadily carves out his way to fame and to his country's gratitude by deeds of daring 
and masterly efficiency with rarely a parallel in the history of any struggle. For 
several years after the Braddock expedition, along the frontiers, his life was beset with 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 87 

perils and dangers in numberless encounters with predatory bands of French and 
Indians. Over and over his cap and jacket were cut through with balls. 

In convoying supply expeditions from post to post long distances through the wild- 
erness regions he had many narrow escapes and adventures. On one occasion while 
going to Winchester with dispatches he was ambushed by Indians and many of his 
command slain. He himself was shot through the neck, the ball tearing away a part 
of his jaw and a number of his teeth. Faint and weak from loss of blood he imagined 
his wound was fatal, but not relishing the thought of leaving his scalp for the savages 
he clasped his arms about the neck of his trusty horse and urging him by spur to his 
utmost speed was enabled to outdistance his wild pursuers and reach the fort in safe- 
ty. Often afterwards did he relate how the last Indian in the race finding his efforts 
hopeless uttered a wild, despairing cry and gave up the pursuit, at the same time 
throwing his tomahawk after his fast receding victim. 

When at length tranquility had been established along the borders by the abandon- 
ment of French claims and the migration farther westward by the Indians, Captain 
Morgan returned to the banks of the Shenandoah. In 1762 he received from Virgin- 
ia for his services on the frontiers a grant of land a few miles from Winchester, and 
hanging up his sword, was again a follower of the plow. On his acres he built a com- 
fortable dwelling and called his home the "Soldiers Rest." To this home he brought 
his wife, the daughter of a neighboring farmer, Abigail Bailey by name, a woman of 
rare womanly endowments, whose gentle ways and winning sympathies were to be for 
him an inspiration and a radiant star to brighten the pathway of all his future years. 
Her inclinations like his own were all rural and domestic, and "she looked well to the 
ways of her household." 

But space does not now permit us to follow the varying fortunes of Captain Morgan 
with more than the briefest mention of his meteor-like course through the stirring events 
of the colonial days, for the story is a long one and fills many of the brightest pages of 
our national history. His career from the day he threw off his last wagon load of iron 
ore at the Colchester iron furnace on the banks of the Occoquan to the time when, 
forty five years after, a major-general with a military renown world wide he sat a 
worthy and dignified representative from the State of Virginia in the Congress of the 
Republic he had been so eminently instrumental in establishing, is one which to us 
now has more of the glamor of marvelous romance than the certainty of historic fact. 
In another colonial paper already prepared; "A Hero of Five Wars," we have re- 
counted at length the exploits of our wagon boy as ensign, lieutenant and captain in 
the years of frontier warfare with the Indians after the defeat of Braddock, and in the 
wars of Pontiac and Dunmore and in the tory rebellion in Hampshire and the whiskey 
insurrection in Western Pennsylvania. 

We have followed him in 1775, ^^ the trusty rifleman of the Shenandoah to the head- 
quarters ot VVashington at Boston to take part in the impending conflict of the revo- 
lution. Thence we will go with him on that ill advised, ill starred expedition 
of Arnold six hundred miles through the wilderness of Maine in which he and his 
men were subject to labors and hardships, rigors of climate and extremities of hunger 
rarely experienced by any other expedition of the world's history, until at the end 
of fifty-six days they stood a wasted, shivering band of adventurers on the banks of the 
St. Lawrence river. We will tell how the spectral army successfully crossed the wide and 
rapidly flowing river at midnight, running the gauntlet of two sloops of war stationed 
in the stream, how he camped under the frowning battlements of Quebec, and how 
soon after, he led his men through a blinding storm of snow and sleet and the dark- 
ness of a winter night into the very heart of the garrisoned town, making his way by 
only flashes of blazing musketry and cannon. Later on in the progress of the war, 
with a colonel's commission, most worthily bestowed by Congress, we will keep track 
of our hero as he hovers like a whirlwind with sharpshooters about the retreating troops 



88 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

of Cornwallis across the Jerseys; as he defeats and puts to utter rout the flower of the 
British under Burgoyne and his renowned generals in the two desperately contested 
battles of Saratoga ; as he drives back the attacking regiments ot Howe at White 
Marsh ; as he swoops down with impetuous force upon the legions of Tarleton the 
scourge of the Carolinas, at the Cowpens, winning new laurels of victory in the defeat 
of their exultant commander, and, finally, when broken down by his life of hardships, 
as he returns to the bosom of his family, followed by the acclamations of his country- 
men, with a reputation and character which no act of intrigue, selfishness nor disloyal- 
ty had ever blemished. 

The interesting incidents and associations connected with the early days of our hero, 
when in the long ago a mere boy he drove his team in the neighborhood of Colchester 
seem to bring him very near to us, and make us feel as if we had a very large right in 
him, in his great fame and renown. For the time, we stand in his noble, command- 
ing presence and the light of his frank and winning countenance is upon us. Many of 
us have often traversed the roads he plodded over in his obscurity before the mantle of 
greatness fell upon his shoulders. 

The waters of the Occoquan still hurry on in their seaward course as they did when 
Braddock and Dinwiddle and Keppel crossed that April morning a hundred and fifty 
years ago. As then, the birds still carol their springtime and summer lays ; as then 
the skies still bend lovingly, and boughs and fields are green with nature's life, but 
Colchester with its busy streets, its warehouses its landing, and coming and going 
ships has disappeared save only here and there a lonely house standing ghost- like in 
the solitude. 'J'hese with the remnants of the "old furnace and forge of Ballandine," 
and the grass grown heaps of ore and slag, and the almost obliterated wagon roads of 
the olden time are all eloquent and impressive reminders of our gallant Morgan. 

Here was a man all untaught ot the schools, friendless, unaided and without en- 
couragement in his aims, until he had climbed high on the ladder of success, and fully 
demonstrated his intuitive capabilities of faithfully serving, or successfully directing 
in any and all emergencies. 

On that unsullied journey he never trampled on the rights of others, but with una- 
bating zeal in the attainment of a high and lofty purpose he loitered frequently with 
tenderest charity to aid hii less gifted and lagging fellows. 

With an intelligence singularly acute, and a judgment of men and things rarely ex- 
celled, he always addressed himself to his line of action and duties with extraordinary 
success. These talents were not self absorbed. He labored not for self alone but for 
others. Strong as a man he was yet tender as a woman. Brave, generous, large 
hearted and sympathetic he forgot his own case in the contemplation of those around 
him. Self-reliant, energetic, sanguine and courageous he often plucked success from 
doubt and disaster, and victory fiom portending defeat. These manly qualities, too 
attractive for isolation won him friends and followers. They converted the poor 
wagon boy of the French and Indian war to the peerless hero of the American Revo- 
lution. 

His place was always in the midst of dangers. He was always at the head of a 
forlorn hope, always cheering and animating his troops by encouraging words and in- 
spiring them to heroism by his example. He always shared with hi<? men in their 
extremities and never asked a sacrifice of one of them he was not ready to make him- 
self. In discipline he was rigid, even severe. In the camp he was a well spring of 
kindness to his comrades and he was ever watchful of their welfare. He drew them 
to him by his intense magnetic nature and they confidently followed him wherever 
he led. In action he expected everything of them and was never disappointed. He 
was impetuous in battle, but his impetuosity was born of judgment and certain calcu- 
lation. In stature he was tall and massive, a very Ajax in presence, and bis voice was 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 89 

heard like a trumpet above the din of strife. In the home circle he was gentle and 
affectionate. Like the valiant and knightly soldier, Sir Philip Sidney, bleeding, faint 
and thirsting from the fatal wound of a musket ball on the battlefield of Zutphen, offer- 
ing the cup of water just raised to his own fevered lips to a dying soldier of the ranki 
who implored it with wistful glance, he would in the same extremity have forgotten 
his own pressing necessities and denied himself the proffered boon. His magnanimi- 
ty was of a high type. It was this trait which endeared him to his command. An 
ignobleact he scorned. Wrong and injustice he never tolerated toward his men ; for 
once on a time tha"; sword had most cruelly cloven his own noble spirit and he had not 
forgotten it. He never vaunted of his exploits. Even after the decisive battle of the 
Cowpens, when if ever he had cause for self adulation the time was then, in his 
official account of the action he had no veni, vidi, vici, for himself, but praised his 
officers and men and regretted that he could not particularize the soldierly behavior 
of each one of them. His size made him a conspicuous figure in combat. The Indians 
said he bore a charmed life. Doubtless God's invisible angels were round about him 
to shield and preserve him for the work he had to do. 

General Morgan was a soldier born. To him the soldier's art was intuitive. He 
needed not the years of instruction of West Point and Lexington. Braddock's expedi- 
tion was his first school in military science and no hero had ever a rougher one. It may 
be that he had never even seen a squad of soldiers on duty before. Here were regulars 
of the world renowned British army, thorough in tactics and discipline, many of 
them veterans of Dettingen, Preston Pans, Culloden and other great European bat- 
tles. All to him was new and impressive and we can readily imagine that he neglect- 
ed no opportunity as he plodded along with his team in the expedition to familiarize 
himself with the daily routine of military dutiee, such as guard mounting, drilling and 
parading, that his remarkable faculty of ready comprehension, so characteristic of him 
all through his career, seized upon their possibilities, though all unwittingly of the 
great service they were to be to him in after years. 

His arm of service was the infantry. In this he showed himself wonderfully profi- 
cient. He would have been just as proficient in cavalry or artillery ; and doubtless 
he would have been as successful as a commander-in-chief as he was in a less im- 
portant capacity — and in all probability if accident or circumstances had required of 
him that responsible trust he could have directed the continental struggle to a success- 
ful and triumphant close. If he had been a religious enthusiast in the days of intoler- 
ance and persecution he would have fearlessly proclaimed his doctrines in the face of 
fire or scaffold as heroically for the faith that was in him as he was willing to sacrifice 
his life for the liberties of his country. 

Washington early took him into his confidence, rough hewn as he was, and always 
trusted him implicitly : for he knew he was as true as the magnet to the pole. Like 
Greene and Starke and Putnam, his integrity was as a rock. Gates and Arnold and 
Lee had each approached him in his own ambitious interests prejudicial to the com- 
mander in-chief, but he rebuked their treachery with merited scorn. Lafayette set 
great value on the services of Morgan and loved him as a brother, as his numerous 
letters to him show. His exploits were gazetted in his own country and in Europe. 
They were the theme of praise in Congress, in the French Chamber of Deputies, and 
even in the British Parliament. But the republic he so gallantly fought to establish 
has been very tardy to do him that justice his eminent services deserve. 

In this age of monument building, while many a man with not a tithe of his claims 
to a nation's gratitude lies under costly and showy memorial piles, the poor and friend- 
less wagon boy of the Occoquan who "out of due time" in the order of God's appoint- 
ings, came to be the invincible soldier' the self sacrificing patriot and one of the na- 
tion's law-givers, has only an obscure grave and an unpretentious stone to mark the 
place of his sepulture. But his time is coming. Investigation ii, at length getting 
down to the plain facts of the history of the revolutionary struggle and carefully 



90 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

scrutinizing the motives and actions of its military commanders ; and while it is bring- 
ing more and more into unfavorable light the intrigues of Gates, Arnold and Lee, it is 
making appear more brilliant and unselfish the record of Morgan ; and its righteous 
verdict will assuredly assign him his true place in our annals, and through the laudable 
efforts of our daughters and sons of the revolution make possible the building of his 
fitting monument. 

The name of General Morgan is not set down in the books of famous lineage nor 
is It to be found on any roll of "Battle Abbey." His coat-of arms is not emblazoned 
in any book of heraldry. No need to search through long lines of ancestry to discover 
the beginnings of his house. He himself was iis founder, its maker and builder- — 
nothing of its high renown and splendor did he borrow Irom princes of the blood or 
knights of crusade. He belonged to the mighty army of toilers as his ancestors had 
before him. He believed in the dignity of labor and he dignified and honored it by 
a lifetime of noble service. The hand with which he drew his swoid in his country's 
cause was calloused by wielding the axe and driving the plow and wagon ; and if I were 
one of his descendants I would rather have quartered on my coat of arms these em- 
blems of honest labor than all the crouchings of rampant lions of the Plantagenets, 
Tudors or Stuarts. As he was born a soldier, so was he born a nobleman, one of 
nature's best ; and no kingly sword ever laid on shoulder of knight mid blare of trum- 
pet and show of royal pomp and pageant could have added a degree to his nobility. 

Nobles are made by patents But only nature's patent, 
Which kings and queens bestow — Can give the noble aim — 

Of such the names of thousands To true nobility of purpose ; 
The books of lineage show, She only gives the claim. 

On the return of Captain Morgan as a paroled prisoner from the disastrous expedi- 
tion to Quebec uuder Arnold he reported at once to General Washington and the 
Commander-in-chief transmitted to Congress his views of the patriot soldier in the 
following early letter. 

Harlem Heights, Sept. 20, 1776. 
To THE President of Congress : 

Sir: — I would beg leave to recommend to the particular notice of Congress Cap- 
tain Daniel Morgan just reti>rned among the prisoners from Canada. His conduct 
as an officer in the expeditions with General Arnold last fall — his intrepid behavior in 
the assault upon Quebec when the brave Montgomery fell, the inflexible attachment 
he professed to our cause during his imprisonment, and which he perseveres in, all in 
my opinion entitle him to the favor of Congress and leads me to believe that in his 
promotion the state will gain a good and valuable officer. 

I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

Geo. Washington. 

The following is from the first chapter of The Hero of Cowpens, by Rebecca Mc- 
Conkey : 

" 'I took thee from a sheep cote to be a prince and a ruler.' 

"It is no matter of regret to us that the human origin of our hero is overhung with 
mystery. We like it. What a license this to give the imagination ! The old Greeks 

would have set it down thus — 'Son of Jupiter and .' We moderns might do well 

to take a hint out of this old and beautiful mythology, that so delighted to mix up 
the gods with the aflFairs of men. 

"Eternal truth ! that bloomed into a higher meaning in our Christianity where God 
in his word and his Providence continually shows us how He renews the world from 
the lowliest sources, using the things which are not to confound the mighty, and 
bring to nought the things which are. 

"Nature disallows heredity, and hacks it with a two-edged sword. How shall we 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 91 

account for Luther, Shakespeare, Cromwell, Napoleon or Washington. Having 
been here without precedent, we thereupon build great expectations and behold the 
outcome. 

^'Nature is averse to dynasties, and when there is brave work to be done, the work- 
men spring into their places by the word of His power." 

"One person only could have lifted the veil of mystery from his antecedents — our 
hero himself — but he declined to do it — nor did he give a reason for the silence he 
maintained. There was some vague hints that he was ot Welch extraction; his par- 
ents having migrated hither somewhere between 1720 and 1730. But no reminiscence 
of father, mother, sister or brother, childhood or home ever escaped him. Itis uncer- 
tain whether he had his birthplace in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, his family having 
lived on both sides of the river alternately. His descendants came to New Jersey 
about 1736. There is another misty suggestion, that he ran away from his home on 
some disagreement with his father. We would however, take him just as we find him, 
Daniel Morgan, 'Native American in its loftiest sense, asking no questions.' We 
like to think that there must have been honor and virtue in the stock that sent forth 
such a shoot — perhaps wrong and injustice somewhere; but over all our hero draws 
a pall of unbroken silence. Yet we know of a surety the gods were there and did set 
their seal to give the world assurance of a man." 

AN HISTORIC PICNIC. 

Saturday, August 7th, was a gala day on the historic banks of the Occoquan. The 
occasion was the first annual joint meeting of the Prince William county Educational 
Association and the Historical Society of the counties of Prince William, Fairfax and 
Alexandria. The weather was all that could have been desired. At an early hour 
the steamer, .\lton, Capt. Leadman commanding, and in waiting at the public land- 
ing of the town of Occoquan, blew a loud and long blast which was the signal for the 
many parties who had come into town from all the surrounding neighborhoods to go 
aboard the boat for an excursion to the site of the vanished town of Colchester a few 
miles below, on the shore of old Fairfax. There an hour was most agreeably passed 
by the party, looking and straying over the lands, many acres in extent, where in the 
early colonial days stood the flourishing and busy borough, chartered by the General 
Assembly of Virginia in 1752, laid out in 1753 and made a point of entry and shipping 
port for the immense quantities of tobacco which were brought into its great ware- 
houses by the rolling roads from the surrounding plantations, some of them fifty miles 
distant. Out from this point, where the Occoquan was a deep and capacious 
stream, went fleets of square rigged vessels to the cities of London, Amsterdam and Lis- 
bon, carrying out cargoes of the Virginia staple, grain, lumber, iron, furs and other 
valuable products. Smaller vessels carried away to the smaller towns of the tide water 
region merchandisefrom the warehouses, and trains of wagons kept up an overland traffic 
with the frontier settlements as far as, and even beyond the mountains. 

Looking at this day over the grass grown wastes of the old town's site, it seems like 
the fantasies of a dream when the historian recounts the marvelous changes which have 
been wrought over and all about it in the hundred and fifty years which have gone by 
since its first foundations were laid by the Masons, the McCartys and Wageners. Its 
history is a retrospect deeply tinged with sadness, melancholy and romance. 

Far away in the opening vista of the faded years we stand upon the heights of the 
Occoquan and look down upon its waters hurrying on in their seaward course beneath 
the shadows of the branches of the primeval forests which encompass them. On these 
waters only the rude bark of the Indian. His wigwam is on the shore. The realm 
of water, wood and earth all around him in its fulness is his. He has held it by cen- 
turies of possession and enjoyment. None have come to dispute his title. But, hark ! 
what sounds are these wliich break upon the solitudes. The invaders have cnmp — the 
pale faced strangers with firelocks, axes, plows and white winged boats are in his midst 



92 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

and lo! before his firelock falls the startled deer — before his axe the great oaks crash 
upon the stillness^and ways and highways are opened and fields of maize and tobacco 
stretch far avray over the hills and valleys in the tracks of his plow. 

The surveyor comes to set his compass by the river's margin where the shore slopes 
down gently and smoothly to the water's edge. He defines the course of streets and 
lays off the butts and bounds of lots for a town, and Colchester has its beginnings — 
and a beautiful site indeed was chosen, for it overlooked miles of the Occoquan and 
showed also glimpses of the grand old Potofnac in the distance beyond. They name 
it for a market burough in the county of Essex in old England, fifiy miles from Lon- 
don, on the river Coin, because some of its projectors are immigrants from that local- 
ity, notably Dr. Peter Wagener, the owner of the land on which the new town is to 
be built. 

The years pass on and we see habitations rise and multiply, and generations of men 
go to and fro in its streets. We see warehouses and piers and docks and ships and 
great increase of trade and traffic. But again we look as still other years have passed 
and the scene has changed. The habitations are deserted. The stir of life has left 
the streets. Trade and traffic have waned — the warehouses are not filled as once in 
the palmy days. They are empty and falling, and ships come no more to the piers 
and docks. Of all those who lived, moved and had their being in those habita- 
tions and thoroughfares a few only remain. To many of them new homes have open- 
ed in places remote. Some of them fell before the devouring pestilence that wasteth 
at noonday. And now looking once more we see devouring flames leaping from roof 
to roof and completing the destruction of the ill-starred town. 

Today, only two of the old habitations remain. They stand forlorn and ghost like 
in the solitude, sad, but suggestive monuments of the long faded years. One of them 
is a picturesque structure, still quite well preserved, standing close to the "Old King's 
Highway" from Williamsburg, up over the Occoquan, and on through the estate of 
Mount Vernon to Alexandria, and beyond to Key's Gap in the Blue Ridge mountains. 
In the palmy days of the town when the tide of travel surged by its doors it was known 
as the "Arms of Fairfax." It was a hostelry of great repute near and afar, and under 
its roof were entertained Washington,' Lafayette and many other distinguished men of 
the time, both soldiers and civilians. It was the inn where the lumbering red and 
yellow coach always stopped with its wayfarers. Says a traveler in an old letter: "I 
dined at the Arms of Fairfax, a commodious tavern not far from the 'Ferry,' built 
partly of stone and partly of frame. The dinner was of smoking venison and fish, 
taken from wood and water that morning, and supplemented with a pitcher of excel- 
lent cider. The rate was one shilling and six pence which I did not demur at for so 
good a repast." It was the place where the politicians of the surrounding neighbor- 
hood came to "fix up their slates" for the coming elections, and where the loungers 
"did congregate" to get the freshest advices dropped by the passing travelers. The 
massive foundations and great outer stone chimneys have stood well the wear and tear 
of the hundred and fifty years of its existence. It ought to be protected and cared for 
in the coming years, as should all other like memorials of the colonial period. 

To our party every object of the locality, dreary and forlorn as it seemed, was in- 
vested with a peculiar interest. Truly we were on historic ground, wayfarers in the 
"seats of the mighty." The plow share has within a few years upturned nearly every 
rod of the old town's site, and only one of the streets, that of Essex, through which 
runs the old highway, can now be correctly traced. The hrur allotted for this part 
of the exercises of the programme having been spent, our party very reluctantly 
obeyed the captain's summons to again board his little steamer. The trip back was 
enlivened by songs from the young ladies of the Historical Association. On landing 
the march was promptly taken up, and all with well filled baskets huiried to the shaded 
retreats of the stream beyond the clattering mill. As our mission was historical in 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 98 

its significance, as well as educational, we fittingly selected an historical spot to 
spread and enjoy our midday repast. We chose the old gray granite rocks and cool 
green sward about the dismantled walls of John Ballandine's iron furnace and forge of 
the long ago, and we were not only on historic ground, but on ground made almost 
sacred by the oftime presence of a hero who for great natural endowments with all the 
varied attributes and capabilities which go to make up the successful soldier, leader 
and commander, was not second to any other hero who drew sword in our great con- 
tinental struggle, a hero wtiose sacrifices, patriotism and soldierly deeds our country 
has been very slow to properly appreciate and fittingly recognize. 

When Governqr Dinwiddle and General Braddock passed through Colchester that 
April morning of 1755 with their showy sentinels and escorts on their way up from 
Williamsburg to Alexandria to make ready for that expedition against the French and 
Indians beyond the mountains, which was to end so disastrously to the British and 
provincial forces, this hero, then at the age of seventeen, was filling the humble role 
of teamster in the employ of Ballandine for a few shillings a day, hauling iron ore to 
his furnace. Squads of provincial troops he saw almost daily passing up the same 
way. His adventurous spiiit caught the military enthusiasm of the times. He left 
ore and furnace and turned his horses' heads up the King's Highway in the direc- 
tion of the military encampment at Alexandria, where all was activity and busy pre- 
paration for the war ; and henceforth for many years, his hitherto prosaic life was to be 
one of strange adventures, more like the marvels of romance than the actual realities 
of historic fact. In the inevitable ot his wonderful destiny under God's appointings, 
he was to be a most conspicuous actor in the momentous events and circumstances which 
called into being and shaped the grand conditions of our American Republic. 

Every one who may read this sketch of our most historic picnic may not know that 
the strippling teamster who hauled the ore to the furnace and who many a time may 
have eaten his plain repast on the same gray boulders, as he rested and baited his horses 
in the shadows of the great oaks, was General Daniel Morgan, the intrepid leader of 
the Virginia riflemen in the Continental array, and the real hero of Quebec, Saratoga 
and Cowpens, two of them by far the most important and decisive of the revolutionary 
battles. 

But the story of his meteoric course and brilliant exploits is a long and varied one 
and fills many of the brightest pages of our country's history, so, we now take our 
leave of the grand old soldier and patriot, the plough boy of the Shenandoah and the 
wagon boy of the Occoquan. 

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon our party obeyed the summons of the clanging bell, 
and assembled in the town hall where we were joined by the citizens of the town, and 
the meeting called to order by M. D. Hall, Superintendent of schools of Fairfax 
county, Divine blessings were invoked by Rev. Mr. Kloman upon the objects of the 
gathering and after the singing of "Love's Old Sweet Song'' a very appropriate ad- 
dress of welcomt; was delivered on behalf of the good people of Occoquan by S. M. 
Janney, which was followed by an "historic paper" reciting at length the many inter- 
esting events and associations of the vanished town of Colchester, read by W. H. 
Snowden of Andalusia, Fairfax county. George C. Round of Manassas then read his 
very entertaining historical romance, entitled "Mariamne of Belle Air" and after the 
singing of another song the large and enthusiastic audience., which had listened with 
an appreciative attention, adjourned, and all concerned seemed glad that they had 
had the opportunity of participating in the exercises of the "first annual picnic" of 
the two kindred societies, whose laudable objects are the diffusion of useful knowledge, 
the collection and preservation of Colonial history, the interchange of thought on 
national topics, the encouragement of virtuous actions among the young and the 
general promotion of social interests and fraternal feeling. 



94 SOMK OLD HISTORK' LANDMARKS 

A FORT ON THE OCCOQUAN. 

At a General Assembly of Virginia in 1679, it was ordered "that for the further se- 
curity of the frontier parts of said province trom the incursions of the Indians, a fort 
be built near Occoquan river, strong and well covered, sixty feet long and twenty-two 
feet bruad, and one small house tenne foot square to be strongly built for amunition, 
both of which to be built and paid for at the public charge; and that Major Isaac 
Alierton, and Col. George Mason take upon themselves to provide the severall neces- 
saryes hereafter mentioned for the said worke and houses, for which they shall be re- 
imbursed by the publique in the county of Stafford — that is to say— eight thousand, 
eight penny nails — five thousand ten penny nails — foure thousand twenty penny 
nails — foure iron pots of about eight gallons each, with pot hooks — foure iron pestles 
— two hair sifters — twelve milke treyes — six spades — two cross-cut saws — six wedges — 
two broad axes — six hilling hoes — two drawing knixes — two hande saws — one grind 
stone — two hammers — six gimlets — two augers — two files — one adze — two frying pans 
— ten bushels of salt — and foure wash tubs." 

This fort was to be garrisoned by "able and sufficient mounted men, with each a 
case of good pistolls, a carbine or shot gun and a sword, together with two pounds of 
powder and tenne pounds of leaden bullets or high swan shot, and alsoe 
that the garrison be provided with five bushels of shelled Indian corne, two bushels of 
meale, eighty pounds of goode, well salted porke, or one hundred pounds goode, 
well salted beefe for foure months for such men and horses. The garrison was to be 
supplied with a goode boate and oars to pass over the streame." 

JOHN BALLANDINE, 

John Ballandine of whom mention has been made in connection with General 
Daniel Morgan the wagon boy of the Occoquan, in the foregoing Historical Sketch 
of Colchester was descended from a noted line of Scotch ancestors, some of whom 
came early to the province of Virginia, and were probably among the first settlers of 
Westmoreland county and afterwards of the Scotch town of Dumfries near the mouth 
of Quantico creek. All the circumstances of his life so far as they have come down to 
us lead to the belief that he was one of the rugged, pushing types of his race. He 
was always fourd among the foremost spirits in useful enterprises of his time which 
promised private benefits or public advantages. But the iron manufacturing interests 
chiefly engaged his life long attention. He must have been a man of large means; 
for he had furnaces and forges in operation in different sections of the province, and 
a wide distance apart, notably on the Shenandoah, on the James and on the Occoquan 
rivers. To keep these works running with the many difficulties of travel and trans- 
portation in those primitive days must have been a case involving not only perils and 
dangers, but requiring great business tact and mental comprehensiveness. 

At his furnaces on the James were produced in 1781, one thousand tons of pig iron 
all of which was shipped to Europe. His furnace and forge on the Occoquan were 
established in the early years of 1700 and were quite extensive. Cannons were cast 
there for the Revolutionary war, also shot and shells. It was at these works that 
young Daniel Morgan, the future military hero of the Continental struggle, was em- 
ployed at the beginning of the French and Indian war as already narrated. He was 
hauling for Ballandine bog and mountain ore with his own team at a compensation of 
a few shillings a day. 

The bog ore was dug from the lowlands of the neighborhood and the mountain ore 
was shipped in scows or barges from deposits near the Great Falls of the Potomac. 
These works were discontinued shortlv after the Revolution. Some of the leveled 
wall;'- of the works may still be seen. Grass and weeds are growing over the heaps of 
ore and slag. But the mighty roar of the cascades still goes on unceasingly from the 
foam covered rocks as in the days when the fiery seething metal ran gleaming into 
the moulds of the workmen. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 95 

Ballandine had also on the Occoquan stream, mills for grinding grains which served 
a very needed purpose when they supplied Washington's and Lafayette's hungry ar- 
mies with flour and meal as they halted for rest in Colchester on their way to the fight 
at Yorktown in 1781. He seems to have been a versatile, all round man, one of the 
Andrew Carnegie type of men in the business world, restless, enterprising and aggres- 
sive. He owned stores, vessels, fisheries, plantations and wagon trains. By his great 
prominence and useful service in the promotion of the various colonial industries, he 
attracted the favorable notice of Washington and secured his confidence and lasting 
friendship. In 1775 he assisted the General in his surveys and levelings for the con- 
struction of the waterways for his grain mills at the head of Dogne Bay. A practical 
and experienced surveyor, his services were often in request in important divisions of 
land and the laying of highways. 

To John Ballandine belongs the credit chiefly of originating the scheme of continu- 
ous navigation from the head of tidewater on the Potomac to the waters of the OhiO, 
a distance of over three hundred miles, the removal ol rocky obstructions, the creat- 
ing of levels, and other engineering devices, "so that boats of large dimensions might 
go with ease for the transportation of merchandise and passengers." He had looked 
the whole land over in his journeys to his iron works and had made careful surveys ot 
the courses and practicabilities of the intervening waters, and drawn all the necessary 
preliminary plans for the contemplated undertaking which seemed so sensible and 
promising that they found ready approval and co-operation from the influential pub- 
lic men ot the time , and none of them were more earnest for the scheme than Wash- 
ington himself. These plans were submitted for the consideration of a public meet- 
ing held in Georgetown in October, 1774, which unanimously endorsed them and 
subscribed their names to the following agreement. 

We, the subscribers, have considered John Rallandine's plans for clearing Potomac 
river, and improving the navigation thereof and do approve them ; and to enable him 
to set about that useful and necessary undertaking, .do hereby agree and promise 
severally to contribute such assistance, or pay such sums as we have respectively sub- 
scribed to the trustees named in such proposals, or in their order at such times and places, 
and in such proportions asshall be required of us for the clearing of the Potomac river." 

George Washington /^S'^o Thos Ringold looo 

Ralph Wormly 500 W. Elzey loo 

Thos. Johnson for self and L. Jacques . 500 Jonas Claphani loo 

George Flai.x 300 Wm. Deakins, Jr 100 

T. Ridout 200 Jos. Chapline 50 

Walter Delaney 200 Thos. Johns ^o 

David Ross for Fredericksburg Co . . 500 Adam Stephens 200 

David Ross, self 300 Robt. Rutherford 50 

Daniel and Samuel Hughes 500 Francis Deakins loo 

Benjamin Dulaney 500 Chas. Carroll of Cairollton 1000 

When this meeting was held the enthusiasm of the people of Virginia and Maryland 
for its purpose, and especially such of them as were contiguous to the Potomac was 
general. But the time was not auspicious for the carrying out of the great work con- 
templated. 

The oppressive measures of the British Parliament were beginning to exasperate the 
colonies, and this exasperation soon brought an open revolt and finally the American 
Revolution, during the continuance of which all public enterprises languished. 

In the colonial struggle, Ballandine was an earnest patriot, and cooperated faith- 
fully with his neighbors, Washington and Mason, for American independence, and with 
them he signed the celebrated Fairfax resolutions at the beginning of the troubles. 
He was married to Frances, daughter of Charles Ewell, the first proprietor of the 
homestead of Belle Air, near .Dumfries. His father was Capt. William Ballandine, 
who married Mary Ann Bertrand, daughter of Rev. John Bertrand of Rappahannock. 



86 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

The remains of John Ballandine doubtless lie in the old family burying ground of 
Belle Air. 

OCCOOUAN TOWN INCORPORATED JANUARY 5, 1804. 

Thirty-one acres belonging to Nathaniel Ellicott, James Campbell and Luke 
Wheeler laid off in lots with convenient streets— to be called Occoquan, and James 
Keith^ Thos. T. Page, Edward Washington and James Coffer to be trustees. About 
this time was laid out the road or highway to Alexandria called the telegraph road, 
and a bridge was authorized to be built for it about two miles above the Colchester 
ferry, where are located the Janney grist mills. 

Nathaniel Ellicott was a Quaker. 

LITTLE RIVER TURNPIKE CHARTERED IN I 795. 

In 1795 the Legislature of Virginia authorized Thomas Mason, proprietor of the 
Colchester ferry, to build a bridge instead with same rates as for ferriage. This was 
the bridge described by Davis, the traveler. It was standing until 1804, how much 
later is uncertain. 

MARYLAND LORDS OF THE MANORS 

There must be at least, 300,000 descendants of the 30 odd lords of manors of 
colonial Maryland, counting their descendants in both male and female lines. These 
descendants are scattered throughout this state and through other states wherever the 
sons and daughters of Maryland have made their homes. According to the law of 
descent, it is reckoned to be more noble if the lineal be in the family name of the 
original grantee. To explain who were these lords of manors is quite a difficult task, 
for no list has been made of them, no catalogue exists in any of the archives of the 
state or colony to lead the searcher, but he must plod on through musty records of 
everything and pick them out one by one as he discovers them. 

In the beginning, when Lord Baltimore began the settlement of the colony of 
which he was by grant of the king, sovereign lord proprietor, he decided that an aris- 
tocracy was as necessary a part of the state as a democracy and that its function should 
be independent — that is, not confused with the function of democracy ; that its true 
ancient Greek meaning of "right to rule" should be exemplified. I'his was in 1634, 
after he had brought over the first settlers to the shores of the Chesapeake. However 
although the assembly refused to pass his "Bill for Baronies," he possessed sufficient 
authority from the king as lord proprietor to establish manors with hereditary magis- 
tracy attached thereto. This was like what in ancient English history is called creat- 
ing "barons by writ" and in old France would be termed "anoblissements." 

SOLE TENANT OF THE CROWN. 

But in regard to the power of the lord proprietor to do these things; in the first 
place, the Statute of Quia Emptoris, which had been enacted in the reign of King 
Edward I., in 1570, and which decreed that in all sales or "feoffments," of land the 
holder should bear allegiance not to the immediate lord or grantor but to the king, 
was set aside in favor of Lord Baltimore by King (!!harles I., so that in Maryland, Lord 
Baltimore was sole tenant of the crown and had the power of erecting manors as 
though he were the king himself. While allegiance to the king was preserved, oath 
of office was administered in the name of the proprietor and all writs ran "In the 
year of our dominion." 

WAS A MILITARY COMMANDER. 

Now, the lord of a manor has a right to hold court and judge all offenses happening 
within the limits of his manor, except the crimes of murder, counterfeiting and treason. 
This right is hereditary so long as the manor passes in the family from father to son. 
If the manor is sold all rights are transferred to the purchaser. At first no one could 
possess a manor but a "descendant of British or Irish," but in 1683 ^^ ^^^ decreed 
that manors might be held by "any person living or trading in the province." This 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND." 97 

was SO different from the manner of holding seigneuries established by the French 
king, Louis XIV, in 1663, as to be worthy of note, tor a person deriving a siegneurie 
by direct concession from the King was ennobled, nor could he sell the seigneurie 
without the consent of the King and the next heir, and when this was obtained the 
rank of nobility did not go with the purchase. Moreover; the seigneur, as an officer 
was obliged to be the military commander over his tenants, to instruct them for the 
defense of the country and to settle their disputes as a magistrate. The King, in 
Canada, was very careful what sort of men were seigneurs, and they were the most 
splendid nobility a new country has ever had, many of tliem bearing the proudest and 
greatest names in French history. 

WAS KILLED BV SLAVERY. 

Tlie ancient records show that in Maryland the manorial system died out, not be- 
cause it was unpopular, for no complaint is mentioned by the people against it and 
the benefits as founders of the province which the lords of the manors conferred on 
the people could not be forgotten. But what caused it to decline was the introduc- 
tion of slavery. Many ignoble and unscrupulous but enterprising persons began to 
use slaves on their places to do the work. A manorial grant did not authorize slavery 
This was in the latter part of the seventeenth century and as time progressed the lords 
of manors found themselves steadily falling behind in revenue, owing to the small re- 
turn which their tenants gave them. They were eclipsed in splendor or display by 
the ignorant, low bred but wealthy, parvenues whose places were worked by slaves. 
So, one by one, yielding to the temptation and pressure of events the lords of the 
manors descended from their exalted position, sold the portions occupied by tenants 
to those tenants, and with the money purchased slaves to work the portion of the 
manor reserved for themselves. So the manors disappeared in the plantation. 

WRIT OF GEORGE TALBOT. 

Those who rean this should not forget that the lords of the manors of Maryland 
were the founders and patricians of the province. Lord Baltimore recognized them 
as such in the writs by which he endowed them with manorial rights. He permitted 
that anyone finding favor in his sight as a proper person and bringing wealth and 
people to the province might acquire such manorial rights as the possession 
of at least 2,000 acres. As an example, a part of the writ creating George Talbot, 
a cousin of Lord Baltimore, Lord of Susquehanna Manor in Cecil County in 1680 
is herein evidence : "Know that for and in consideration that our right trusty and 
right well-beloved cousin and counsellor Geoige Talbott of Castle Rooney, of County 
Roscommon, in the Kingdom of Ireland hath undertaken at his own proper cost and 
charges, to transport or cause to be transported into the province within 12 years 
from date thereof 640 persons of British or Irish descent here to inhabit, and we, not 
only having a great love, respect and esteem for our said cousin and counsellor, but 
willing also to give him all due and lawful encouragement in so good design of peo- 
pling and increasing the inhabitants of this our province of Maryland, well considering 
how much this will conduce to the strength and defence thereof, and that he may re- 
ceive some recompense for the great charge and expense he must be at in importing so 
great a number of persons into this our province aforesaid, * * * we have 
thought fit to grant unto our dear cousin and counsellor all that tract or dividend ot 
land called Susquehanna lying in Cecil County in our said province, * * * con- 
taining an estimate of 32,000 acres * * * with all the prerogatives and royalties 
of a manor and the magistracy thereof." 

These Talbots belonged to an ancient Norman family that had been settled in Ire- 
land for generations. Of the Catholic party, they were opposed to Protestant Eng- 
land, and it was the religion only of James II, that recommended him to the Catholic 
Irish in the days when Prince William of Orange, invited to England by the Protes- 
tants, chased King James over into Ireland. The George Talbot mentioned in this 



98 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

as Lord of the Manor of Susquehanna was cousin ot Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrcon- 
nell, commonly known as "Dick" Talbott who was one of the Irish generals in the 
service of King James II, against the Prince of Orange in 1698. It is said tliat Tal- 
bot, while deputy governor, stabbed a man with whom he quarreled and fled and took 
refuge in a cave in Cecil County, where for along while his food was brought him by 
several trained falcons. 

BASHFORD MANOR. 

Bashford Manor, on the Wicomico, was granted to Dr. Thomas Gerrard in 1650 for 
an annual quit rent of 15 bushels of corn. In 1678 he sold it to Governor I'homas 
Notley, who divided it afterwards into small holdings and sold it, the manor then be- 
coming extinct. The name of Governor Notley has passed into many families and 
preserves the memory of one of the foremost founders of Maryland. 

BROOKE PLACE MANOR. 

Brooke Place Manor, in St. M iry's County in 1654 reckoned as its lord, Geo. Robert 
Brooke, president of Lord Baltimore's council. He had in 1650 the Manor of De 
Brooke, on Battle Creek in Calvert county. He had come from England with his 
wife and 10 children and brought over 28 other persons — servants, retainers and 
colonists. He became the commander of the country. His eldest son, Baker Brooke, 
was confirmed as the lord of the manor. The council of Gov. Charles Calvert met 
at this manor house July 19, 1762, and it was standing until about 80 years ago. 

Maryland's oldesi brick house. 

Cross Manor, on St. Inigoe's Creek in 1639 had been erected in favor of the Hon. 
Thomas Cornwaleys. The manor house, built of English brick, is the oldest brick 
house in Maryland, vet standing. Ciptain Cornwaleys was associated with Lord 
Leonard Calvert and Mr. Jerome Havvley in the government ofthe province. 

commander of KENT. 

Evelynton Manor, in the "Baronie of St. Mary," was conceded to the Hon. George 
Evelyn in 1638. He WaS commander of Kent county in 1737. He came as agent of 
Clabery & Co., of London (Claibourne's partners), and he superseded that person 
after that person's departure for England in 1637. He was the means of bringing 
Kent Island under Lord Baltimore's jurisdiction. He left the colony in 1638 and re- 
turned to England but he had a brother, Cipt. Robert Evelyn, v/ho was interested 
more permanently in the province. 

SITE OF FORT' WARBURTON. 

Warburton Manor, in Prince George's County, in 169c owned as its lord Col. Wil- 
liam Diga;es, son of Governor Digges of Virginia, whose father was Sir Dudley Diggf^s 
master of the rolls to King Charlts I. He married Jane Sewall, daughter of Lady Bal- 
timore by her former marriage with the Hon. Henry Sewall of London. This manor 
passed to William, the eldest son of Colonel Digges, and to his children, one of whom, 
a daughter — Jane — married Col. John Fitzgerald, of Virginia. The government of 
the United States purchased a part ofthe manor, on which was erected Fort Warbur- 
ton, which was blown up in 1814. 

THE TRIAL OF A WITCH. 

Fenwick Manor, on Cat Creek, in 1651 became the fief of Cuthbert Fenwick, mem- 
ber of Lord Baltimore's council. In 1659 the manor house was the scene ofthe trial 
of Edward Prescott for "hanging a witch '' The only witness who was summoned 
was Col. John Washington, great grandfather of President George Washington. 
When the dav arrived for the tri.d instead ofthe witness came a letter of excuse in the 
folloving phraseology : "Because then, God willing, I intend to gette my yowng 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 99 

Sonne baptized, all the Company and Gossips being allready invited." As the wit- 
ness did not appear, the prisoner was discharged. Right Rev. Edward Fenwick, the 
first Roman Catholic Bishop of Cincinnati, was a descendant of Cuthbert, lord of this 
manor, whose only brother, Ignatius Fenwick, nianied Sarah Taney, of the family 
that produced Chief Justice Roger Brooke 1'anev, of the United States Supreme 
Court. Many other descendants of the lords of Fenwick Manor are scattered about 
the Western Shore and in the City ot Baltimore. 

WAS CLERK OF ASSEMBLY. 

Little Bretton Manor, granted to William Bretton in 1640, passed to the Jesuit 
missionaries. The house was built of English brick and is yet standing. It has a 
commanding position, overlooking St. Clements Bay and the Potomac River. Wil- 
liam Bretton came over from England in 1637 and was a member of the Assembly. 
His wife, Mary, was daughter of Thomas 'I'al^bs, who came over at the same time. 
He brought with him, bes-ides his wife and four-yearold son, three servants. For 
nearly 20 years he was clerk of the Assembly. 

THE SNOWDENS FROM WALES. 

Resurrection Manor, between Town and Cuckoid Creeks, was the possession of the 
Hon. Thomas Cornwaleys in 1650, but it passed soon after into the Snowden family. 
In 1659 and in 1662 the privy council of the province met there. Captain Cornwaleys 
came to Maryland with the first expedition and brought with him five servants. He 
was one of the earliest commissioners of the province. Later he returned to England. 
The Snowdens came from Wales in i66o and left many descendants. 

POS3ESSION3 OF THE DARNALLS. 

Portland Manor, in Anne Arundel county, was the lordship of the Darnalls, whose 
ancestor. Col. Henry Darrell, reL'itive of Lord Baltimore, came over 20 years before 
the Protestant revolution in England. Woodyard, another residence of this family, 
in Prince George's County, is in existence at the present time and is said to be the 
most interesting family residence in Maryland. This family has many descendants 
residing in the state. 

DRIVEN INTO VIRGINIA. 

St. Clement's Manor, consisting of St Clements Island and part of the adjacent 
mainland, in 1639 was one of the manors of Dr. Thomas Gerrard, member of the 
council. It is the only one of the old mansions, the records of which are preserved. 
From 1659 court was there continuously. This Dr. Thomas Gerrard was a strong 
Catholic, but he married a Protestant lady and became involved in the intrigues of 
Claibourne against Lord Baltimore. For this he was attainted of treason and was 
forced to fly into Virginia, in which colony he settled in the county of Westmoreland, 
where his descendants intermarried largely and perpetuated the name. The family 
came originally from Lancashire, England, where it had been seated for several gener- 
ations, but the name is of Germanic origin and is met with quite frequently in locali- 
ties settled by Saxon and German people. 

PASSED TO THE PARKERS. 

St. Michael's, St. Gabriel's and Trinity Manors, were the dependencies of Leon- 
ard Calvert in 1639. In 1707 these manors with the exception of the Piney Neck 
estate, had passed by inheritance to the children of George Parker from the line of 
their mother's family, who was a daughter of Gabriel Perrot. The first of the 
Parker family mentioned in the annals of Maryland is William Parker, who was one 
of a committee commissioned during the lord protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in 
England, to have charge of the affairs of the province, the rights of the Lords Balti- 
more falling in abeyance during that period as the Lords Baltimore were royalists. 



100 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

A printer's manor. 

St. Elizabeth's Manor, yet another belonging to Hon, Thomas Cornwaleys in 1639 
was on Smith's Creek, but it became the inoperty of the Hon. William Bladen, the 
"first public printer" of Maryland. His son was Gov. Thomas Bladen, who married 
Barbara, daughter of Sir Thomas Janssen. 

OWNED EY THE JESUITS. 

St. Inigoe's Manor, in St. Mary's county was owned by Mr. Thomas Copley, better 
known as the Jtsuit priest Father Phillip Fisher. The property is yet retained by the 
Jesuits. 

EDLOES AND PLATERS. 

St. Joseph's Manor, near Tom Creek, on the Patuxent, has been the lordship of the 
Edloes and Platers. Both these families were among the early settlers. The name of 
Joseph Edlow or Edloe, is preserved among the Maryland archives as the first of that 
family on American shores in 1634. The Platers were disloyal to the crown in 1776. 
one of them, George Plater, being quite notorious for this. But probably in the trans- 
fer of the manor from one family to another other considerations than that of fealty 
were principal. 

AN ATTEMPT AT SOCIALISM. 

Bohemia Manor, in Cecil county was conceded to Augustine Herman by Lord 
Baltimore to reward him for making the first map of Maryland. He was of a respect- 
able family of Bohemia, in Europe, but had settled in the Dutch possessions of New 
Amsterdam now New York, where in 165 i, he married Jane Varlett. He had visited 
England and was thought by the Dutch to be altogether too familiar and social with 
the English to suit their taste. So, on one occasion, when he returned to New Am- 
sterdam, after 1672, he was arrested and imprisoned. An old account says that he 
was permitted to take his famous gray horse into jail with him — which must have been 
in a barn — and he mounted his horse and dashed out, and, though pursued closely, he 
escaped by swimming witli his horse the Delaware, his horse dying of exhaustion on 
reaching the further shore. The Augustine Manor was conceded to Herman also by 
Lord Baltimore. 

Within the manorial domain of Bohemia was the first attempt made in America by 
a body of men to practice the |)rinciples of socialism by the abolition of private prop- 
erty. One of the sons of the loid of the manor joined this body to the great grief 
of his father, who manifested that grief in a codi* il of his will, wliereby he put the 
di^pjsal of his property out of the reach of his visionary son. The families of Thomson, 
Foreman, Chambers and Spencer claim descent from the lords of Bohemia Manor. 

Maryland's greatest proprietor. 

Great Oak Manor, in Kent county, was the lordship of Marmaduke Tilden. His 
ancestors had been lords of Great Tvldens, near Marden, South Kent, England. He 
was cousin of Sir Richard Tylden of M listed. The family had possessed lands in the 
parishes of Brencklv, Otterden, Kennington and Tilmanstone in the reign of King 
Edward HL, and William Tylden paid for lands in Kent, England when the Black 
Prince was knighted. Sir William Tvlden, of Great Tyldens was the grandfather of 
Marmaduke Tilden, lord of Great Oak Manor, a direct descendant of Sir Richard 
Tylden who was senes( hal to Hugh de Lacy, constable of Chester, accompanied King 
Richard, the Lion Hearted, to the Holy Land and fought under him at the Battle of 
Ascalon against the Sultan Saladin in the year 1190 A. D. One of the sons of Mar- 
maduke Tilden was his heir, also a Marmaduke, and the greatest proprietor in Kent 
owning 31,350 acres. He married Rebecca Wilmer and left numerous posterity. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 101 

OWNED BY THE RINGGOLDS. 




commander of the county. ^ — . _ „ _, — j „_ , 

the commander of Ringgold's Artillery in the war between Mexico and the United 
Stales of 1846. 

ANCESTORS OF THE BRENTS. 

Fort Kent Manor, on Kent Island, belonged to Giles Brent. The Brents were 
related to the Calverts, Lords of Baltimore. They consisted of the brothers Giles 
and Foulke and the sisters Margaret and Mary, who came into the province in 163S, 
bringing a considerable nurnber of servants, male and female. Of their descendants 
Robert Brent married Anna M. Parnham of the family of Hon. John Pole of the 
Privy Council of England : James Fenwick Brent married Laura, daughter of Gen. 
Walter H. Overton, of Louisiana, and Gen. Joseph L. Brent married Frances R. 
Kenner, daughter of Duncan Kenner, of Louisiana. Of this family, also was Hon. 
Robert James Brent, one time attorney general of Maryland and an oracle of the 
Maryland bar. 

HOME OF THE CARROLLS. 

Dougheregan Manor was the seat ot the Carrolls, the first of whom in Maryland 
was Charles, who landed at Annapolis sometime in the seventeenth century. To this 
family belong two men celebrated in the early history of the United States — Charles 
Cirroll of CirroUton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Right Rev. 
John Carroll, tJie first vicar general of the United States, as well as the first arch- 
bishop in Maryland. The grandson of Charles Carroll of Carrollton — John Lee 
Carroll — was one time governor of Maryland. 

GIVEN TO A MINISTER. 

Stokley Manor, whose lord was Jeremiah Laton, in 1675, bequeathed it to the 
"first Protestant minister who might settle in Baltimore country," so great was his 
desire to hear the Word spoken as it had been spoken in Massachusetts, from where, 
he had migrated. A branch of this family were among the settlers of Kings county, 
Nova Scotia, in 1760, after the expulsion of the Acadian French. 

MANOR OF THE CARVILLES. 

St. Barbary's Manor belonged to the Carville family, the first of whom was the 
Hon. George Carville, attorney general of the province. A person of great conse- 
quence in the romance of history has been made the subject of a recent novel 
"Richard Carvel," and supposed to belong to this family. In the City of St. John, 
NewBrunswick, Canada, a mansion house called Carvell Hall, belonging to a family 
of that name, being likely of Loyalist origin and mayhap from the Western Shore of 
Maryland. 

FORT WASHINGTON. 

The following extracts are from an intesesting sketch of Fort Washington read be 
fore the Columbia Historic Society of Washington, D. C, by Dr. Jas. Dudley Morgan 
of that city, and here published by the courtesy of the author. 

The colonists from England, in the Ark and the Dove, penetrated as far up the 
Potomac Piver as what is now called Heron and Blackistone Islands, befort disem- 
barking. Leaving most of his party here. Governor I^eonard Calvert . v.ii'i a few 



102 ifCME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

chosen men of the parly, set out in two pinnaces to further explore the river. They 
Fnade several landings, one about four leagues up at a point near the present Colcnia 
Beach, but here the natives on their approai h became alarmecl and fled into the in- 
terior. Their next stop was after sailing about nine le;igues, which brought them to 
what is now called Marlborough Point. Here the Indian chief, Archihu, met them 
in a friendly manner and said, "You are welcome ; we will use one table; my people 
shall hunt for my brothers " Continuing their voyage of discovery, they came to what 
was then and is yet called Piscataway Creek, and here they found the surrounding 
heights covered with Indians, to the amount of about five hundred, in hostile array. 
After long and patient gesticulations and demonstrations, the colonists convinced the 
natives that their mission was [)eaceable, and a conference with th^-ir chief then took 
place. It was here that the English f )und Henry F"leet, who had been captured and 
held as a prisoner, and through his acting as interpreter much good feeling was shown. 

Shortly after the arrival of Governor Calvert and his party at Piscataway Creek the 
Indian chief fell ill, and forty conjurers or medicine men in vain tried every remedy 
within their power ; when one of Governor Calvert's i).irty. a Father White, by per- 
mission of the chief administered some medicine to him and caused him to be freely 
bled; — the treatment was successful, the invalid began to improve, and was soon 
restored to perfect health The chieftain, though, would not bid Cal\er\ and bis mtn 
either go or stay, but told him "he might use his own discretion. " Governor Calvert, 
not overpleased with the dubiousness of his welcome, thought prudence was the better 
policy, and deeming it unwise to settle so far up (150 milts) the Potomac, after having 
by various presents persuaded the chief of the Piscatawiys to allow Henry Fleet to 
accompany them, returned for his copatriots, who were awaiting him at Blackistone's 
Island, and entering the river now called the St. Mary's and about ten miles from its 
junction with the Potomac, purchased of the Indians payt of their village, where he 
commenced his settlement to which was given ihe name (March 27, 1634) of St. 
Mary's. This purchase of land and treaty with the Indians was much facilitated by a 
happy occurrence, at least for the colonists, which took place at this time. The 
Sasquehannock Indians, who lived about the head of the bay, were in the practice of 
making incursions on their neighbors, the Yoacomicos, in the vicinity of St. Mary's 
city, partly for dominion and partly for booty, and of the booty women were the 
mostly desired. The Yoacomicos were at this very time fearing a vi^it3ticn of the 
Susquehannocks, and had already gotten to a point of safety many of their wives and 
sweethearts, so that striking a bargain for the purchase of the land was rendered very 
easy for the colonists. 

It was but eleven years after (1645) the establishment of St. Mary's city (1634) that 
among the many acts and regulations for the defense of the province, we read of one 
for the establishment of a garrison at the mouth of the Piscataway Creek, and authoriz- 
ing "Thomas Watson of St. George's Hundred to assemble all the freemen of that hun- 
dred for the purpo;e of assessing upon that hundred only the charge of a soldier, who 
had been sent by that h-indred to serve at the garrison at Piscataway." In Ridpath's 
"History of the United States," page 219, we read as follows: "On the present site 
of Fort Washington, which is nearly opposite Mount Vernon, the Indian village of 
Piscataway stood. Here Gov. Leonard Calvert moored his pinnace and held a con- 
ference with the chief of the Piscataways." "This Indian village," sa\s Wilson, in 
his history, "was fifteen miles south from Washington on the east side of the Potomac 
at the mouth of the Piscataway Creek, opposite Mount Vernon and near the site of 
the present Fort Washington." An Indian settlement appears on John Smith's map 
of Virginia, opposite Mount Vernon, at the mouth of the Piscataway Creek. 

It is always a subject for congratulation that any enterprise in connection with the 
interests of our young republic was either instigated by or had the endorsement of 
General Waslington. He evidently weighed well and considered and overlooked the 
whole field of facts before promoting or sanctioning an innovation. That he might 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 103 

gain a more thorough knowledge of the topography of the country surrounding our 
Fedeial City, and the course and tributaries -^f the Potomac he, in i 785, accompanied 
by several friends, among whom was Governor Johnson of Maryland, made a tour of 
invesMgation, in a canoe, of the upper Potomac, long before the removal of the seat of 
governmerit to Washington. So it was before recommending to General Knox that 
promontory on the Potomac for a fort (1794) that he had overlooked, examined and 
sojourned in the immediate neighborhood and consequently was thoroughly familiar 
with the locality and knew of its many advantage?. It was often his custom in going 
either to Bladensburg, Upper Marlborough or to Annapolis to ferry the Potomac from 
Mount Vernon to Warburton, and thus continue his journey. He has often, when 
tired or belated, or for social intercourse, stopped and spent some time with George 
or Thomas Digges at Warburton — what is now Fort Washington. 

There was evidently much social visiting between the Washingtons and the families 
at Warburton and other neighboring country seats. In addition to the hospitality 
extended during the hunting season, Mr. Irving speaks of "water parties upon the 
Potomac in those palmy days, when Mr. Digges would receive his guests in a barge 
rowed by six negroes arrayed in the uniform, whose distinguishing features were 
checked shirts and black velvet cips. As Mr. Irving's -palmy days' were before the 
Revolution, the Mr Digges referred to was evidently Mr. George A. Digges, who 
lived at Warburton, until his death in 1792. At this time, Warburton passed into the 
hands of a bachelor brother, Thomas. As was customary with the sons of the Maryland 
and the Virginia planters, Thomas Digges had spent his youth in London, where he 
was known in his circle of friends as the handsome American. Although young 
Digges lived the life of a youth of fashion among the 'Macaroni' of his day, when his 
services were needed bv his country, he proved himself to be a man of resolute char- 
acter, and ardently patriotic. The Continental Congress required a secret and con- 
fidential agent near the (?ourt of St. James, and Thomas Digges was, through the 
influence of Washington, selectt^d for this hazardous and important mission." 

From the period of about 1795, when negotiations were entered into with Mr. 
George Diggts for the purchase ot part of Warburton at the mouth of the Piscataway 
Creek, on the Potomac River, for a fort, and the further expense to the government of 
small sums of money for intrenchments at that point, there was very little done, until 
Prc'-ident Madison, aroused by the imminent danger of war with Great Britain, 
directed that M'ajor Pierre Charles L'Enfant proceed to Fort Warburton and report 
to the Secretary of War the condition of that defense. 

I'here can be no doubt that had Fort Washington been properly garrisoned and the 
channel obstructed, as General Winder requested (August 19, 1S14), and suitable 
batteries erected at the proper time on the river, the British squadron would never 
Jiave reached Alexandria. The officer who had run away with his command from 
Fort Washington was tried by the court-martial and dismissed from the service. 

After the second war with Great Britain, Fort Washington was allowed, as were most 
of the fortifications throughout the Uriited States, to go to rack and ruin for want of pro- 
per care to its armament and intrenchments, until in 1850 it was a mere military post, 
having one or two companies of artillery, and later on, only a detachment of the 
ordnance corps. 

In all periods of North American history, aboriginal, revolutionary and secessional, 
the ground where Fort Washington stands to-day has taken a prominent part. The 
first order issued during the Civil War for the protection of Washington to the naval 
forces was dated Januarv 5, 1861, signed Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, and 
addressed to Col. John Harris, Commandant Marine Corps, directing that a force of 
marines be sent to Fort Washington, down the Potomac, for the protection of public 



104 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

property. Forty men, commanded by Capt. A. S. Taylor, U. S Marine Corps, were 
sent in obedience to this order. 

Historic Fort Washington, which has seen so many viscissitudes and taken part in 
so many wars, invasions, sieges and insurrections of this country, had a garrison flag 
raised to the top of a new steel flag pole, on Wednesday, December 12, 1902, with 
military ceremony, the music playing, troops drawn up in line with presented arms, 
and a salute being fired from the guns of the fort. The new flag, which is a large one, 
flies from the top of the pole fully two hundred feet above the river. It is so situated 
on a high hill that it can be seen for miles. Until this time only a small flag had been 
used at Fort Washington on the flag pole within the old stone fort. Under the author- 
ity of the War Department the large garrison flag has now been raised, signifying Fort 
Washington is the headquarters for the Potomac forts. 



OF 

THB EXPKDIXION 

OF 

..:The Young Surveyors:.. 

GEORQK WASHINGTON 

AND 

GEORGB Wai^LIAM KAIRKAX 

TO SURVEY THE VIRGINIA LANDS OF 

Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, 

BY 

(I 



Copiously Illustrated by Miss Eugenie De Land. 



STRICXI^Y AUTHENTIC. 

FIRST EDITION. 



ALEXANDRIA, VA, 

PRINTED BY G. H. RAMEY & SON. 
1902. 



QAaA 5. 



Copyright, 1902. 

BY 

William H. Snowden. 




THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS IS STRICTLY AUTHENTIC. IT WILL BE 

FOLLOWED BY THE STORY OF THE VOYAGERS GEORGE WASHINGTON 

AND HIS HALF BROTHER LAWRENCE WASHINGTON IN 1751-2. 



/ma ty— f 

\J o LI rv c)' ^^ i-L r V c Y o 
















"And he dragged the mountains over with chain and rod — 
The blue sky was his cover, the Indian his lover, 
And his duty was his sovereign and God." , ry 

One spring morning, early in the month of March, 1747, eight years before the 
( French and Indian war, two young men might have been seen standing at the gates 
j of "Old Belvoir" the elegant home of the Hon. Wm. Fairfax on the Virginia shore of 
' the Potomac river, two miles below Mount Vernon, which latter place was then the 
residence of Major Lawrence Washington, son of Augustine, and half brother of 
George Washington of ever honored memory, not yet sixteen years of age, though 
already nearly of manly stature and possessing much of manly bearing and dignity. 
The other was George William Fairfax, son of the Belvoir proprietor, and older by 
eight years than his companion. The former after having completed his school 
education under the limited tuition of school masters, Hobby and Williams in the 
county of Westmoreland, Virginia, had come up from the lowlands a short time pre- 
viously to make his home temporarily with his brother Lawrence until he could 
find some employment suited to the drift of his natural inclinations. It was here 
that the two Georges had first met and commenced an acquaintance which was 
very soon to ripen into confidential friendship, and ultimately, into a brotherly 
attachment and affection which no circumstances of their after lives were sufficient 
to mar or change. 

The inclinations of botbi these young men were much the same. Integrity of pur- 
pose and action was the basis of both their natures and characters. Both were 
quick of perception, ardent and eager in their purpose, and anxious to supplement 
their school rudiments with wide and varied experiences in the greater and more 
thorough school of the world. Both were fond of adventure which at that early 



4 THE STORY OF THE YOUXG SURVEYORS. 

time in the history of the colony was everywhere opening before them. They were 
both physically sturdy and capable of great endurance and hardships. They had 
been receiving of late more advanced instructit)n together in the art and mystery 
of trigonometry or land surveying, both theoretical and practical, from Lawrence 
Washington who had received a thorough course of education in old England; for 
the most promising field of employment then opening for a young man of energy 
and talent was the "laying off" of plantations in the wilderness territory of the prov- 
ince. And now, they were about to start together on an expedition over the Blue 
Kidge mountains to the valley of the Shenandoah river, almost a terra incognita 
and the home of wild beasts and prowling Indians. 

Their way was to lead them through the primitive forests and jungles — a way 
which the bison, the deer and the bear li^id first marked out, long centuries before 
between the mountains and the sea, and which the roving red man as well, had 
long threaded. In all the region through which tliey were to pass, plain wagon 
roads or highways were then unknown and only at long intervals was there to be 
seen a human habitation or other sign of. civilized life. For guidance in their 
course they had only their compass and the blazings of the axe on the great tree 
trunks, made by the earliest pioneers after the coming of Captain John Smith in 
1608. 



4^ I, 



$4JkU^^.^^^ 




YOUNG SURVEYORS STARTING ON THEIR EXPEDITION FROM BELVOIR. 



Thomas Fairfax, sixth Lord and Baron of Cameron, and cousin of General Fair- 
fax of Cromwell's parlimentary army, born in England in 1691 had inherited his 
mother Catherine's extensive landed estate known in liistory and geography as tiie 
Northern Neck of Virginia lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers 




I'.-nntt-a uv A 






VKTATIS 40 



En p rav(i(3 lor Grciharrrs "Ma(S aziiie . 



1 Cevlif)- that tile p^rinlirig of WashuLc^tuu in 1772. CAreriid-il br Aiisou Dickuisou. Eslj. fomi flu- 
onqiiial jih.ltirr by l'",-ik'. in \ixx posscssinn.is a f,iirtr[ul reseTntlance of die oHeinal.lhp mily oric 
in«J of thpTaliT I'aUi.'r, pi-iuj- In lliv ri-voluti<Mi . 



. jritrK/ton JJoiirt July lis. If.h' ^^-/ 4 yf ^l 7i 




uJyfr. 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 5 

and their tributaries comprisincj in its vast area the counties of Northumberland, 
Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, King George, Prince William, Stafford, 
Fairfax. Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, ^Lidison, Page, Shenandoah, Hard}^ Hamp- 
shire, Morgan, Berkeley, JeJfferson, Frederick and Clark. 

His possessions in this valley had never been regularly settled nor surveyed. 
Lawless intruders, squatters as the}' were called Avere seating themselves along the 
finest streams and in the richest valleys and virtually taking possession of the 
whole country. It was the anxious desire of Lord Fairfax to have these lands ex- 
amined, surve3'ed, and portioned out into lots or parcels, preparatory to ejecting 
the interlopers or bringing them to satisfactorj^ usage. 

He had come over to Virginia in 1745, and since, had been passing most of his 
time with his cousin William at Belvoir, who had some time previously opened a 
land office for the sale of his lands to the incoming settlers. Here he made the 
acquaintance of the two young men already described, by whose abilities and char- 
acteristics he was so favorably impressed that he employed them as his surveyors. 







'~^^ gsi.' ' ^<4^^ ^^Sl—--^-- 'ii§)f//$^f'- 









Wi ''%f,jl 



"WAY OF THE SURVEYORS THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. 

For George William he obtained a commission from the provincial legislature 
of Virginia, and Washington was chosen to accompany and assist him inthe pro- 
spective work. The compensation of each was to be a doubloon, or a little over 
fifteen dollars a da}'. They were both delighted by his Lordship's proposition and 



t) THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 

liberal offer of remuneration and had made their arrangments for the expedition 
with alacrity. 

Our young adventurers seemed not to have shared in a pojjular superstition ; 
•for the day they chose for starting was F riday , March eleventh , ;ind it does not 
appear from the journal of their exploits that any very ilTluck hefell them thrt)Ugli- 
out their perilous undertaking. Circumstances seemed i)ropitious for them from 
the start. The winter had pnst and gone. Its last lingering snow drifts were fast 
disappearing from all the hill sides and valleys. Spring time was again bringing 
the possibilities of bud and leaf and blossom to the glad earth around theai and 
to their young and impulsive natures it l)rought hopes and expectations which 
elated them and gave them the incentive and persevering forces they needed and 
found. 

As they cantered briskly away from the ''Bel voir Home" down the plantation 
road leading to the King's Highway from Williamsburg to Alexandria, doubtless 
their only presages were of good fortune and success. Ten miles on their way they 
halted at Great Hunting Creek to exchange courtesies with their friends the Wests, 
the Alexanders and the Carlyles who were then busy laying the foundations of the 
new settlemoit of "Belle Haven" afterwards Alexandria town. From Belle Haven 
they struck the old Indian trail running through Cameron Manor in a direction 
nearly identical with that of the present Little River lurnpike of Fairfax and 
Loudoun counties, the same trail followed by Washington six years after, when sent 
by Governor Dinwiddle on an expedition to expostulate with the French command- 
er near Lake Erie for his aggressions on the territory of the King of Great Britain — 





Neville's hostelry where the surveyors lodged. 

the one he followed n year after on his expedition in which occurred the en pi t- 
ulation of Fort Necessity; and the one over which marched in 1755 a portion of the 
army of General Edward Bruddock against the French and Indians. 

At nightfall on the first day of their journey bad as the roads or paths must have 
been at that time of the year,^ind full tiowingas were all of the intervening streams 
from the snows and winter rains, the surveyors had made over forty miles of their 
journey, which brought them to the headwaters of Bull Run, a stream flowing 
into the Occoquan river and which a hundred years after was to become so famous 
for its conflicts of the civil war. Ht^re they found generous hospitality in the 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 7 

back-woods-man st_yle, and a good night's rest under the cabin roof of "Squire Ne- 
ville", a cousin of the Fairfaxes and well known to them both, who had come up 
to the isolated locality near twenty years before from his first i)lace of settlement 
in the western part of Prince William county, and selected a large tract of land 
lying on the main traveled way by Ashby's Gap from Fredericksburg on the Rap- 
pahannock to the straggling trading post of Winchester. His house or cabin was 
an "ordinary" or inn and also served as a storehouse for general merchandise and 
provisions to accommodate all incoming pioneers, settlers and wayfarers. 

Washington does not tell us in his diary what comprised their bill of fiire on 
the table of this wilderness hostlery after their fatiguing journey, but we may im- 
agine and perliaps very correctly, that smoking venison and other wild game was 
set before them. This ordinary was not far from the village of Aldie in Loudoun 
county. It was a low, long rambling building of stone and was kept up as a wagon 
stand for several generations after that time. For many years it was known as 
Lacy's ordinary. 

The main part of this ancient structure is still standing as it has been for more 
than a hundred and fifty years on the old Braddock road, near where the old Caro- 
lina road crosses, it and about one mile from the Little River Turnpike leading up 
from Alexandria to Aldie and which from that village extends to the Shenandoah 
20 miles distant passing through Ashb\''s Gap. The Carolina road comes up 
through Haymarket and extends to Leesburg and beyond. 

When the house was built is not now known as it has no date but doubtless it 
goes back to the time before the counties of Prince William, Fjiirfax and Loudoun 
were established from old Stafford. Its length is 60 feet, its width 40 feet. It 
has 8 rooms on the ground floor and an attic. The fire places are 8 feet wide and 
the stone chimneys are massive. As may be seen by the picture a metallic roof 
has replaced the old one of riven shingles. This detracts much from the primitive 
appearance of the old hostlery as the old roof was set with a row of quaint dormer 
windows. The interior arrangements of the building remain much the same as 
when the j^oung surveyors were sheltered there. The great outside kitchen in 
which so many bountiful repasts were served up through the long vanished years 
to regale the hungry wayfarers, imigrants, traders, surveyors, hunters and wagon- 
ers, has fallen and only the stones of the wide chimney and capacious fire place 
and oven remain. .-,/'> 

/ ^ ' J 

Otten after this expedition of 174/ , before his name and fame had gone to the 

utmost parts of the earth, Washington was entertained in the same ordinary as he 
made journeys to the Shenandoah Valley to look after the lands he had there pat- 
ented. Many other noted historical personages in the colonial days were guests 
in the lowly inn, among them Daniel Boone and his hardy companions on their 
way up the old Carolina road from the Sand Hills of Carolina to their remote pos- 
sessions in the wilds of Kentucky. Louis Phillip, King of France and his two 
brothers the Duke de Montpensier, and the Count de Boujealais were guests there, 
Volney tarried there; Lord Fairfax in his hunting excursions often crossed its 
threshold, and Nellie Custis Lewis always made it her midway stopping place in 
her later years after removing from Woodlawn to the valley. 

Near by is a family burying ground where many of the early residents of the 
neighborhood lie buried. 

While scores of the Old tavern stands which once dotted the highways leading 
down from the Shenandoah valle^v and under whose roofs the army of hardy wag- 
oners found entertainment for "man and beast" in the 3'ears before the coming of 
railways, have ceased to l)e, and are now forgotten, this historic tenement still stands 
and is occupied, and with care uaay yet remain a landmark for another generation. 

Our surveyors on the following morning resumed their journey and crossed the 
Blue Ridge through Ashby's Gap swimming the Shenandoah and then were in the 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 




r^i'^^^^Wi^- ^ 



SWIMMING THE SHENANDOAH. 

great valley of Virginia where it is about 25 miles wide, a region diver.cified by gentle 
swells and slopes, watered by plentiful springs and streams, and admirably adapted 
to cultivation. The Blue Ridge bounds it on one side, the Xt)rth Mountain, a ridge 
of the Alleghanies on the other ; while through it flows that bright and abounding 
river which on account of its surpassing beauty was named b}- the Indians "'Shen- 
andoah", that is to say the "daughter of the stars". Pushing on their way, they 
found rest again at nightfall under the roof of Captain Ashby on the river just 
named, a short distance above Burwell's Island at the "great bend" of that stream. 
This was another station for the ferrying and entertainment of wayfarers and the 
selling of supplies to traders and squatters. On Sunda\^, March the thirteenth. 




IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHENANDOAH, 



THF STORY OP THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 



9 



they rode to his Lordship's "quarters" four miles higher up the river, passing, 
tlirough beautiful groves of sugar maples and fertile bottom lands. They had 
reached a veritable wilderness, such as they had never beheld in all the Potomac 
or Rappahannock regions. Every object around them was bewildering to their 
minds we may imagine, and awe inspiring. Remnants of the old Indian tribes 
still roamed the vast hunting grounds, alive with wild game, to the dismay of the 
defenceless traveler and pioneer, for be it remembered, the time was eight years 
before the French and Indian war in which General Braddock figured so inglorious- 
ly, losing the battle on the Monongahela and his own life. 









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ARRIVAL AT LORD FAIRFAX'S QUARTERS. ' 

Lord Fairfax liad come to the vidley a year or so before and h;id built for him- 
self about twelve miles south east of Winchester a stone ''Hunting Lodge" of ample 
proportions with quarters lor servants, in the centre of a manorial estate often thou- 
sand acres, on which he liad designed to build at sometime, a palatial residence. 
He had called his new home ''Greenway Court", where he lived a recluse 
with his attendants, and scores of hounds, bat che latch string always hung 
outside of his door, and this was always open wide for the entertainment of the way- 
farer. He established here a branch of the Bel voir land office and became popular 
with all classes around him and was very useful and influential in tbe organization 
of the county of Fredericksburg, and in building up the town of Winchester. 

Young Washington and his friend found under the roof of Greenway Court wel- 
come and good cheer, and while they were engaged in surveying and mapping the 
surrounding lauds the place was to be their home. 

Henceforth for a time our adventurers were to be surrounded by perils and dan- 
gers as well as b^' sights novel and interesting, but their new field of action was to 



10 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 



give them valuable experiences, and for one of them it was to lay the foundation 
of great usefulness to himself, to his country and to mankind the world over. 

Washington during this expedition kejit a diary not only of all surveys of the 
tracts and lots made, but also of many curious and interestiui? circumstances incident 
to the wild, romantic life which iheir business required. From this diary we make 
the following extracts, which will give to the reader some idea of the daily life of 
the two Georges as they penetrated the primeval forests of the great valley and with 
compass and chain escablished the "buttings and boundings" of those wide areas 
over which are now to be found so many of the fertile valley farms. 



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CABIN OF LORD FAIRFAX. 



The surveys were commenced in the lower part of the valley, some distance above 
the junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, and extended for many miles 
along the former stream. 

Here and thereonly partial clearings had been made by adventuroussquatters and 
pioneers, but even their rude tillage of the virgin soil had produced good crops 
of grains, hemp, and tobacco. The extracts are jn»^t as W'aslungton hurriedly noted 
ihem down from day to day in his field book, and if his modes of expression and or- 
thography at that time are not up to the standard of the present day we feel sure 
that no sensible student will indulge in unkind criticisnj of them, as evidently they 
were not intended for the public eye. They are some what quaint in style, but 
they give us fond glimi)ses of^the great personage in his boyhood and make us 
for the time companions with him as he roughs it in the Virginia wilds. 

Tuesday, March 15th. We set out early, with intent to run round ye s'd land, but being taken in a 
rain, and it increasing very fast c;bliged us to return. It clearing about I. o'clock and our time being too 
precious to lose, we a second time ventured out and worked hard till night, and then returned to Pen- 
nington. We got our suppers and was lighted into a room, and I not being so good a woodsman as ye 
rest of my company stripped myself very orderly and went into ye be^l as they called it, when to my surprise 
I f.iuud it to be nothing IJut a little straw, m Uted together without sheets or anything else, but only one 
threadbare blanket, with double its vveight of vermen.such as lice, fleas &c. I was glad to get up; as soon 
as the light was carried from us I put on my clotlies and lay as my companions. Had we not have been 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 



11 



very tired I am sure we should not have sleepe'd much that night. I made a promise not to sleep so from 
that time forward, chusing rather to sleep in ye open air before a fire as will appear hereafter". 

March ye 15th. Surveyed a tract of land on Gate's marsh. Ye chain men were Henry Ashby and 
Richard 'I'aylor. \'e marker Robert Ashby. Ye pilot Wm. Lindsy. 

March the i6th. we set out early and finished about one o'clock and then travell'd to Fredericks- 
town now Winchester where our baggage came to us. We cleaned ourselves to get rid of ye game we had 
catched night before, and took a review of ye town, and thence returned to our lodgings where we had 
a good dinner prepared for us, wine and rum punch in plenty, and a good feather bed with clean sheets which 
was a very aggreeable regale. 




RUNNING LINES. 

March 17th. Rained till tt-n o'clock, and then clearing up, we reached as far as Major Campbell's, one 
of the Burgesses, about 25 miles from town. Nothmg remarkable this day nor night, but that we had a 
tolerable gcod bed to lie on. 

March i8th. We travelled up about 35 miles to Thomas Barwick's on Potomac where we found ye river 
so exceedingly high by reason of ye great rains that had fallen up about ye Allegany Mountains as they told 
us, which was then hringin>j down ye melted snow, and that it would not be fordable for several days; it 
was then six foot higher than usual and was rising, we agreed to stay till Monday — We this day called 
to see ye famed warm springs, we camped out in ye field this night. Nothing remarkable happened till ye 
20th. When finding ye river much ai;ated in ye evening swam our horses over and carried them to Charles 
Polk's in Maryland for pasturage till ye next morning. 

March 21st. Travell'd up ye Maryland side in a continued rain all ye day to Col Cresaps, right agains 
ye north branch, I believe ye worst roads ever travell'd by man or beast. 



12 



THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 




■<^.r7^ 














TAKING A NAP. 

March 22. Continued rain and ye freshet kept us at Cresaps. 

March 23. Rained till about 2.oclock when we were surprised by thirty odd Indians coming from war 
with a scalp. We had some liquor with us ot which we gave ihem part, it elevating their spirits, put them in 
a humor for dancing, of whom we had a war dance. Their manner of dancing is as follows: They clear 
a large circle and make a hre in ye middle, then seat themselves around it, ye speaker making a great speech 
telling them in what manner they are to dance. After he has finished, the best dancer jumps up as one 
awakened out of a sleep and runs and jimips about ye ring in a most cornicle manner. He is followed by 
ye rest, then begins their musicians to play. Ye music is a pot half of water with a deerskin stretch'd over 
it as tight as it can and a gourd, with some shot in it to rattle, and a piece of a horse's tail tied to it to 
make it look fine. Ye one keeps rattling and ye other drumming all ye while ye others is dancing. 

March 25ih, 1748. Went up to ye mouth of Patterson's creek and swam our hor\es over; got over 
ourselves in a canoe and travell'd up the following part of ye day to Ahram Johnstone's 15 miles from where 
we camped. 

March 26. Travell'd up ye creek to Solomon Hedges, esq., one of his majestie's justices of the peace for 
the county of Frederick, where we camped. When we came to supper there was neither a cloth upon ye 
table nor a knife to eat wuh, but as good luck would have it we had knives of our own." 

March 29. Went out this morning and surveyed 500 acres of land and went down to one Michael 
Stump's on ye south fork of ye branch; on our way shot two wild turkeys. 

April 2nd. Last night was a blowing, rainy night. Our straw catch'd fire y't we was laying upon 
and was luckily preserved by one of our mens awaking. 



THE STORY Oi< THF YOUNG SURVEYORS. 13 

April 3d. Last night was a much more blustering night than ye former; we had our tent quite carried 
ofif with ye wind, and was obliged to lie }e latter part of ye night without covering. 

April 6th. Last night was so intolerable smoky that we were obliged all hands to leave ye tent to ye 
mercy of ye wind and fire. This day on our journey was catcb'd in a very heavy rain. We got under a 
straw house until ye worst of it was over and then continued our journey. 

April 7. Rained successively all last night. This morning one of our party killed a wild turkie that 
weighed 20 pounds. Slept in Cassey's house which was the first night I had slept in a house since I came 
to ye branch. 

April Sth. We camped this night in a wood near a wild meadow where was a large stack of hay. 




SWIMMING THE POTOilAC. 



After we had pitched our tent we made a very large fire. We pulled out our knapsacks in order to re- 
cruit ourselves. Every one was his own cook, our spits were forked sticks; our plates were large chips. 
As for dishes we had none. 

April loth. We took (uir farewell of ye branch and travelled over hills and mountains to Coddy'son 
Great Cacapehon ;ibout 40 miles. 

April nth. We trav( lied from Coddy's down to Frederick Town where we reached about 12 o'clock. 
We dined in town and then went to Ciptam Hite's and lodged. 

April 12th. Got over Wms. Gap ami as low as Wm. West's in Fairfax county, iS miles from ye top of 
ye ridge. 

They were now on the lioine stretch and on the 13th reached their homes of Belvoir 
and Mount Vernon after an ab.sence of thirteen months. 

The foregoing extracts are only such portions of Washington's journal as serve to 
acquaint us with a few of the hardships and perils wliich beset the young surveyors 
in their romantic work in the Virginia wilderness a hundred and lift}' years ago. 

While on this expedition Washington wrote to a friend the following letter : 

Dear Richard : The receipt of your kind favor of the 2nd. of this instant afforded me unspeakable pleasure 
as I am convinced I am still in the memory of so worthy a friend, a friendship I shall ever be proud of 
increa■^ing. You gave nie the more pleasure as I received your letter amongst a parcel of bcirharians and an 
uncouth set of people. The like favor often repeated would give me pleasure altho I seem to be in a place 



14 THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 

where no real satisfaction is to be had. Since you received my letter in October I have not sleeped above 
three nights or four in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the day lay d(jwn before the fire upon a little 
hay, straw, fodder or bear-skins, whichever is to be had with man, wife and children like a parcel of dogs 
or cats, and happy is he that gets the berth nearest the fire. Ther's nothing would make it tolerable but a 
good reward. 

A doubloon is my constant gain every day that the weather will permit my going out, and sometimes six 
pistoles. The coolness of the weather will not allow me making a long stay as the lodging is rattier too 
cold for the time of the year. I have never had my cloths off, but lay and sleep in them like a negro, 
except the few niglits I have layn in Frederick Town." 

Geo. Washington. 



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PREPARING A DINNER. 



George Wm. Fairfax on his return from this expedition was elected a member 
of the House of Burgesses from Fairfax C(»unty, when his commission as surveyor 
in chief was given to Washington wlio continued in the em[)loy of Lord Fairfax for 
twoyears more, not liowever continuously, in the Shenandoah valley, but also over 
the territory now included within the limits of the counties of Loudoun and Fairfax. 
Of his work with compass and chain during this time, he no doubt kept a diary 
as he had done in the first year, tliough no part of it has been preserved. Having 
fulfilled his mission as surveyor he returned to the jieace and quiet of the Mount 
Vernon home. 

Soon after thi.s he accompanied his brother Lawrence now fast declining in health 
in his voyage to the island of Barbadoes. This wa^^ in the winter of 1751-2. In 
the autumn of 1758 wild rumors were coming over the mountains of the encroach- 
ment of the French col>)nists upon the Virginia frontier which then extended to the 
waters of the Ohio, and governor Dinwiddle looking about for a suitable person to 
send on a mission of impury into the circumstances and to remonstrate with the 
aggressors, selt-cted for that jjurjiose our young hero not yet twenty-one years of age^ 

How worthily he acquitted himself in tliis emergency and how heroically he bore 
his part in the war of 1755 as Colonel and aide of General Braddock, and also in 
after years, how he became the trusted and capable leader of the continental armies 
in resistance to the oppressive rule of Great Briiitm and was finally chosen to be 
the first President of the United States of America, are stories which have been told 
with delight in every household and by every fireside of the civilized world. 



THE STUKV Of TiiK YOUJSG SUKVEVORS. 1,; 

How different the after career of George William his whilom friend and com- 
panion. He had no military as])irations but was honored by many civic positions 
of trust in his province, and in all of them he fully sustained the integrity and 
nobility of his early manhood. Many times he was elected to thehouse of Burgesses 
and for some years he was one of his majesty's Council at Williamsburg. On ihc 
death of his father in 1757 he succeeded him to his estate and became the proprietor 
of the Belvior home. He had married a daughter of Col Wilson Carey of Hampton. 

Like his friend Washington he had deplored the oppressions of the mother coun- 
try against the Colonists but unlike him he did not consider them sufficient cause 
for rebellion and resistance by force of arms. 




ON THE HOME STRETCH. 

In 1772 he was called to England by private business, and on his voynge out 
passed the ships which brought the obnoxious cargoes of tea to Boston aj^d other 
provincial harbors. He never returned to Virginia but died in Bath in 1787 agtd 
(>3 years. He lived to know of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to h_is friend 
"Washington. His wife survived him until 1811 dying then at the age of 81. Over 
the dust of George Wm. Fairfax in an obscure English Churchyard is a plain mos.< 
{ covered stone which rarely a wayfarer ever comes to look upon. The Jast resting 
) place of George Washington ever guarded and preserved in its beauty and sacred- 
I ness by pious care is a shrine to which come multitudes of reverential pilgrims from 
every nation and clime, and a grateful people remembering his virtues and the 
works he did for his country and all humanity have builded for him the grand^-st 
monument which has ever pointed to the skies. The life stories of the two person- 
ages however, are inseparable, blending as they do in the main with beautiful 1 ;^.r- 
mony and accord. 



The bond of friendship and filial affection formed and strengthened in the early 
vears of these two noblo men was never broken. Divergent as were their views of 
t.lie Revolutionar}'' contest the individual as^sociations of former years held sway 
liiougb n]l the days of their lives; and death only closed their correspondence. 

1 mrnediately after the battle of Lexington in 1775, Washington wrote to his friend, 
then in England, "Uniiapjjv it is to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed 
in a orother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are 
to be either drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. 8ad alternative ! But 
car a virtuous man hesitate in his choice ?" 

After the battle of Bunker's Hill, July 25, 1775, the General wrote to his friend 
again— 

My Dear Friend : "You must no doubt have heard of the enga<,'ement on Bunker's Hill but as I am 
persuaded you will have a very erroneous account transmitted ol the los-. sustained by the provincials, I do 
assure vou on my word ihnt ovr 1< fs as appears by the returns made to me amounts to no more than one 
hundred and thirty-nine killed, tliirty-six missing and seventy-eight wounded. 

1 am very truly your friend." 

G. Washington. 

X)oubtless it was by letters like these despatchecT after every battle that Mr. Fairfax 
was continually kept correctly advised of the progress of the great struggle by the 
commander-in-chief of the Colonial iirmies. To a mutual friend in England on 
hearing of the death of Geo. William, Wasliington immediately wrote: "Our friend- 
ship was long, deep and uninterrupted and his loss will be lamented by all who 
knew him." 

Tt wns duTinj' one of the candidacies of Mr. Fairfax for a seat in the House of 
Burges-ies, that of 1V54, that occurred on his account the acrimonious dis;pute 
between "Sir. Payne, the friend of Col. El*y, his opponent, and his own friend Col. 
Wji.shington in the market place of Alexandria. 

Much as we may be inclined to censure the political sentiments of George Wm. 
Fairfax it is only fair for us to presume that if he Viad remained in Virginia he 
r:ight finally have alTiiiated perfectly with his old neighbors and friends and readily , 
:. len in with the tide of opposition to the mother government and shown as much ■ 
patriotism as did his eminent friend ; and remembering his untiring devotion to 
tin: Americ;ui jjrisoners of war in England during the contest, his early associations 
;'(jid colonial services and his great integrity of character, let us still in our loving 
charity and niugnanimity think of him only as the bosom friend, the trusted 
advisor, the el((v,>r brother and companion of the peerless Washington, surveying 
and mai)ping the. wilderness lands of the Shenandoah and nobly filling his mission 
as pioneer and do\ng his part in the building up of a great commonwealth. His in 
.fiurnces for good as well as those of his father, vvhit;h were exerted for the righ 
ni'Uilding of the character of Washington have nt'ver been properly estimated i5 
thou^di he himself fully ai)preciated and valued them, as appears from his private 
letters, and the old homestead of Belvoir will always possess a peculiar interest as 
the place wliere th(; nottxl personages we have described passed so much of their 
.ime in pleasant social companionshii) together. 

While Washington was roughing it tl)rough the Virginia forests, tracing out and 
mapping the lands of the future homesteads of civilization, cutting his way through 
dense thiekets, cl iinbering over rocks and wading streams in true back-woods-man 
style, slee|)ing often on boughs of pine, broiling his steak over thecoals of camp fires 
with a wood 'u fork cut from a sa-'pling for a spit, perhaps no expectations of any- 
thing in the future beyond the nlain .outine ofa planter's life had come to th 
young adventurer but he was in the hands of destiny and unwittingly he was goin 
through the prelude to oiie of the gr(, .itest modern liistorical dramas which wa 
^oon to unfold in the Colonies and in which he was to be tiie most conspicuous actor 



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